National Housing Fund Collections Exceed N100bn, Says Outgoing FMBN Boss

The outgoing Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMNB), Mr Madu Hamman, has revealed that the National Housing Fund (NHF) collections for 2023 from the Bank has, for the first time, exceeded N100billion.

Hamman, who disclosed this in his handover speech in Abuja while highlighting the achievements of the Bank under his stewardship which lasted for about 22 months, also said it an enormous responsibility serving with the bank considering the fact that it is an organisation that all Nigerians look up to for housing delivery and provision of affordable housing finances.

While also lamenting on the capital base of the bank which he said was highly inadequate considering the enormous responsibility expected of FMBN, Hamman congratulated the incoming management team for their appointment and called on them to think deep so as to satisfy the demand of the numerous contributors.

“For the first time since 2023, the national housing fund (NHF) collection of the bank exceeded 100 billion marks. This is the first time in the history of the bank that its annual collection has exceeded 100 billion naira.

“The greatest challenge of the bank is the need to recapitalize it. The capital structure of the bank is highly inadequate. Currently the bank operates with only 2.5 billion naira as the capital base and that is highly inadequate. We have been working tirelessly in consultation with the minister of housing and the various committees on housing at the national assembly to assist us in putting our case to the government and the national assembly. We appeal to the new management to rigorously pursue that. Concerning the issues of loan approvals and reduction in the Nonperforming Loans (NPL), we had to formulate a new committee to tackle the issues of nonperforming loans, we have witness a drop in the nonperforming loans from 82 percent to about 56 percent as of today,” he said.

In his inaugural speech, the new Managing Director of the Bank, Mr Shehu Osidi, said he was going to run a transparent and open-door policy while also soliciting for the cooperation and team work from all staff to achieve the mandate of the bank.

“For me, it is an onerous task that comes with loads of expectations as a former staff that is expected to know all the challenges of the bank. I understand the importance of teamwork and cooperation in achieving our organizational goals. Now more than ever as we navigate the complexities of our industry and strive to meet the evolving needs of our stakeholders, I am committed to running an open, transparent and accountable administration in an atmosphere where teamwork, innovation, professionalism, excellence and staff wellbeing shall thrive,” Osidi stated.