The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has expressed willingness to support the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) authorities’ drive to provide affordable housing to its staff and ensure adequate hostel accommodation for students.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, FMBN, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa disclosed this during a recent courtesy visit by the newly appointed university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kabir Bala and other top management officials.
Arc. Dangiwa, an alumnus of ABU, encouraged the ABU University Management to leverage FMBN’s unique portfolio of affordable housing products in its bid to enhance the welfare conditions of staff.
This includes the Individual Construction Loan that provides up to N15million at 7 percent interest rate to NHF contributors with unencumbered land, appropriate titles, and approved building plans to undertake self-construction. Beneficiaries can pay back over a period of up to 30-years depending on their age and number of years left in service.
The FMBN boss added that the University could also organize staff to take advantage of the bank’s Cooperative Housing Development Loan. The facility enables structured groups with a plot of land to develop houses for allocation to its members. Key features include tenors of up to 24 months with a moratorium of 12months and an interest rate of 10%. Up to N500million is accessible by qualified cooperative societies under the facility.
The MD/CE also charged the University to come up with comprehensive building plans which will involve quantitative, civil, and architectural designs that will be cost effective for the University staff.
Additionally, he noted that FMBN already has funded estates in two locations in Kaduna including Zango Shanu at Samaru Zaria, and along Kaduna Expressway that ABU staff that contribute to NHF could seek loans from the bank to purchase.
The ABU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kabir Bala, in his remarks expressed appreciation to the FMBN MD/CEO and his team for the reception and willingness to support his administrations affordable housing plan for staff.
He also sought FMBN’s support towards tackling the lingering student hostel accommodation problem in the University and was informed that bank is in the early days of developing a unique affordable university hostel product that would help the university in that regard.