The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday threatened the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to pull out civil servants from the National Housing Fund’s (NHF) contributory funds scheme over non-remittance of deduction made.
Comrade Joe Ajaero, President, NLC, made the intention known when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Non-Remittance to the NHF and Utilisation of the Funds from 2011 till Date.
Comrade Ajaero said that the FBN had failed to send alerts to civil servants on how much they have been contributing, including their monthly deductions.
He urged the lawmakers to take drastic steps to remove the encumbrances of affordable and quality housing for millions of Nigerians, especially workers who make the most contributions to the NHF.
This, according to him, is identified in the memorandum and other memoranda submitted to the committee.
According to him, the immediate past Managing Director of FMBN, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, now the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, said he left behind N120 billion in the bank coffers.
“He said he was able to mobilise N249.1 billion to Nigeria’s housing fund, and increased subscription to 197,000 between 2017 and 2022,” Ajaero said.
He said that despite these milestones, millions of Nigerian workers who are in line with sections 4 and 10 of the Act cannot access finance to acquire, build or renovate personal housing property.
He said the ease of reimbursement to retired workers of contributed funds, even after failure to access housing loans, is also cumbersome and unnerving.
The NLC President added that despite making the statutory contributions of 2.5 per cent of annual salary to the NHF, many workers could not access the loan due mainly to administrative bottlenecks.
According to him, “While the Act provides for 90 days from the date of application for the loan to disbursement, the experience of many workers is horrific as the undue delay in approving the loans forces many workers to abandon the pursuit of the loan
He added that many resort to third-party agencies to fast-track the loan application at unofficial fees, thus creating the perception of corruption in housing loan approval and disbursement to workers who need the funds.
Mr Madu Hamman, Managing Director, of the (FMBN) said that the total amount of contribution from MDAs from 2011 till date was N238 billion, adding that individuals’ contribution from 2011 till date was N225 million while the ministerial housing scheme was N34.5 billion.
He, however, said there was time to reconcile the conflicting documents from the ministerial housing pilot scheme, which was missing from the one the chairman had.
In response to the development, the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Musa Bagos, while cross-examining the agency aid, with the difference in the documents submitted by the MD was inconsistent
He said should the committee continue with the hearing, many officials of FMBN would be on their way to Kuje prison.
Bagos, therefore, adjourned the hearing to Thursday (today), following a request by the MD to enable them put all the necessary documents together.
