Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria, (CORBON) has urged the federal government and leadership of the federal mortgage bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to make mortgage services liberal and accessible for young graduates and the youths in order to enable them to own a home for themselves.
The chairman of the Council Dr. Samson Ameh Opaluwah who made the call yesterday, at his office in Abuja, during a press conference organised in commemoration of the celebration of CORBON’S 35th Anniversary, also demanded for the recapitalization of the FMBN to enable the bank meet the demands of resolving the nation’s housing deficit.
The builder stressed that FMBN’S current capital base of N2.5billion is not enough to tackle the housing deficit in Abuja talk more of extending it to other states of the federation.
“What we are calling for is the recapitalisation of the federal mortgage bank, their capital is not enough to address 250 million Nigerians. The current capital base of the FMBN is 2.5 billion, how many buildings can that be built in Nigeria? Even in Abuja if you split 2.5 billion it can only give you a few buildings”
“Secondly, mortgages should be liberalised in such a way that young people, fresh graduates should be able to access them using perhaps some of the securities that would be determined. As it is now, you have to have some form of security to be able to access loans and these securities might not be favourable to new and young entrants into the industry. So we are saying it should be liberalised and make things easier for young people to access mortgages so that they can own their own buildings as young as they are”, he said.
He reiterated that the building and construction industry is primarily responsible for providing and maintaining infrastructure and said it remains a leading indicator of economic growth and current developments in the country.
Adding that as a driver of economic growth, the building and construction sector has the potential to address the problems of unemployment and its attendant socioeconomic consequences.
He further revealed that CORBON is partnering with other sister agencies in the construction sector to strengthen the framework for building control across the country as well as bring an end to the case of quack in the sector and address cases of buildings collapse.
