In a bid to close the housing deficit gaps in Nigeria, the Federal government is seeking to reform the sector for improved service delivery.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving two Task Teams that were set up by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development early in the year, the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Shehi Usman Osidi, said the Task Teams have been entrusted with the responsibility of reshaping the landscape of home ownership financing in Nigeria.
“It is important to share with the Task Team that the Bank on its own has recognized the need for reforms and has taken the initiative to commence a journey of repositioning and recapitalization in conjunction with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
“It may interest the Task Team to know that the Bank is one of the enterprises slated for commercialization by the Federal Government. This focus was shifted to repositioning and recapitalization after a series of engagements with the BPE on the need for the Bank to stay true to its mandate of affordable mortgage financing.”
He explained that the Bank is bedeviled with a litany of challenges, particularly with “the performance of our estate development, but it is important to note that we are gradually turning the corner.
“We have a 5-Year Strategy Blueprint, approved by the Board guiding our operations and a major ICT project, Le Core Banking Application, nearing completion (95%) to improve service delivery and enthrone efficiency in processes.
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“The amendments of the FMBN and NFH Acts have also commenced in the National Assembly. In fact, a copy of the draft FMBN Bill was sent to us a couple of weeks ago while we await the draft of the NHF Bill. So this visit is timely so we can pull our efforts together to make an agreed impact at the Public Hearing on the bills,” Osidi said.
The MD stated further that, “as you may be aware, this Executive Management came in barely 2 months ago, and we have set about conducting the affairs of the Bank methodically.
“We are concentrating on 7 core but broad agendas to further deepen the ongoing reforms and usher remarkable turnaround. These include deepening process automation, promoting cost efficiency, enhancing credit quality & reducing NPLs, effective project management, expanding strategic partnerships, and enthroning a robust organizational/employee performance and management system amongst others.”
On his part, the Chairman of the Federal Housing Task Team, Adedeji Adesemoye, said their work is to ensure that there is a turnaround in the housing sector for the benefit of all Nigerians.
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