The handling of the contributory National Housing Fund has been a point of contention between the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.
The National Housing Fund is a byproduct of the NHF Act of 1992, which required all employers in the public and commercial sectors to contribute to the fund on a monthly basis.
The Federal Government launched the National Housing Fund programme with the goal of raising money to build affordable homes for Nigerians.
The dispute between the labour union and the top mortgage lenders in the country arose from recent threats made by the former that it would withdraw from the contributory funds due to its displeasure with the management of the National Housing Fund fund.
According to the PUNCH, Mrs. Timan Elayo, Group Head of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, refuted claims made by Mr. Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who claimed that administrative delays in the mortgage application process had allowed for corruption in the National Housing Fund system.
She claimed that although the FMBN had approved “a considerable number” of National Housing Fund applications, it was unable to do so owing to financial limitations.
She continued by saying that a number of requests were turned down for mortgages since the applicants weren’t qualified.
”Oh yes, workers are using mortgages,” she added. Such an assertion most likely stems from the assumption that anyone who wants to get a mortgage can do so. Because of the number of Nigerians who would desire the homes and the amount of money we have available to distribute, this is not possible.
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“You are aware that we cannot accommodate every request. First of all, a funding shortage will make it harder to fulfil demands. But a sizable number are being addressed as best we can with the resources at hand.
Onyeka charged the FMBN with failing to give the National Housing Fund intended beneficiaries accurate reports of the funds.
If people are using it, who are they? asked Onyeka. The issue is that this money is kept somewhere, and only a select few have access to it. It belongs to us. It must be reachable for us. There shouldn’t be anything that prevents us from using our money.
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