NAN-HE-8
Fund
By Ella Anokam
Abuja, Sept. 20, 2016 (NAN) Some aggrieved contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme have expressed disappointment over the difficulties in accessing the fund after meeting the necessary requirements.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NHF scheme, administered by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) through Primary Mortgage institutions, is designed to provide affordable housing to Nigerian workers.
Some contributors from the NIGCOMSAT Ltd Abuja, who spoke to NAN on Tuesday, called for government to address their plight.
The affected contributors told NAN that in 2011, they had expressed interest in buying houses from JEDO Investment Company Ltd., an estate developer.
Mr Kayode Babalola, Senior Manager, Network Operations Centre, NIGCOMSAT Ltd, Abuja, described the delay as “uncalled for and annoying’’, urging the Federal Government to review the scheme with immediate effect.
“I applied for a three-bedroom fully detached house at the rate of N12.7 million and in June 7, 2013, I paid equity of over N3.8 million, being 30 per cent of the cost of the building.
“I took a commercial loan from Heritage Bank Plc which I am repaying despite its high interest rate; but up till now, I have not been able to access the fund neither is the house made available to me.
“Immediately after the payment of equity, I also applied for the NHF loan of over N8.8 million in 2013 which is the remaining balance of the cost of the housing.
“Since then, no house, no NHF loan and no refund and I have been paying house rent and repaying the commercial loan I took from the bank for equity payment.’’
Babalola said that all NHF applicants, including himself, were moved from Trans Atlantic Mortgage Bank which was said not to be fully recapitalised with CBN, to Resort Savings and Loans Ltd.
“The Resort Savings and Loans Ltd. still requested us to pay the same N100, 000 processing fee which we already paid at the former PMB that was packaging us. We all paid, still our money is hanging.
“It was until we went to FMBN that we were notified that Resort Savings and Loans Ltd. had problems. If we had not gone there, we would not have known.
“We later moved to Mutual Alliance Mortgages Ltd., another PMB and were told to pay again, though the bank promised to intercede for us to have access to our houses,’’ Babalola said.
Another contributor, Mr Japheth Zubairu, Senior Manager, Satellite Control Centre, NIGCOMSAT Abuja, said that he had been contributing to the NHF scheme since 2008 as a private contributor and later merged the account when he became a government employee.
Zubairu said that as an active contributor to the scheme, he got a three-bedroom semi-detached house from the estate developer at the rate of N13 million and paid an equity of 30 per cent with a bank loan in June 2013.
“The FMBN promised us then that we will get our houses within six to nine months but we waited up to 2014; then started putting pressure on them till this moment.
“After an investigation on the scheme, it was revealed that FMBN has not been able to pay one per cent of its subscribers.
“I have contributed more than one million naira; FMBN deducts close to N25, 000 from my salary monthly,’’ he said.
Zubairu appealed to the government to sanitise the FMBN and put credible people who could serve the people in a transparent manner.
“There is a misappropriation of this fund somehow; those who don’t have houses are being given the cash while those who have the houses are being denied for no just reason,’’ he added.
Another contributor, Mr Nuhu Jimoh, Deputy Manager with NIGCOMSAT, said he also applied for a three-bedroom at N14 million, paid equity and met all requirements.
He said that many financial transactions had been done in respect to securing a house for his family.
He said he was sad when asked to pay another processing fee by the PMB after an initial processing fee paid to the former PMB.
The contributors told NAN that they had written to the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, apart from several letters written to FMBN.
They said they also wrote to EFCC, ICPC and Consumer Protection Council in 2014 still the matter was unresolved.
NAN learnt that the developer was also awaiting the housing loan to be disbursed to him before giving the contributors access to the house or a guarantee for the payment if actually they would have access.
Reacting to the complaints, the FMBN Acting Managing Director, Mr Richard Esin, told NAN that the issue was receiving his attention.
Esin said that the FMBN had had several meetings with the estate developer in order to resolve the issue because the bank was committed to the well-being of its contributors.
“The NHF is from workers’ salaries; so if there is any fund in this country that should be administered with the highest level of transparency, objectivity, prudence and diligence, it is the NHF,’’ Esin said. (NAN)
ELLA/FF/NKO
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Edited by Fela Fashoro
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