23rd August, 2023
By Femi Ogunshola
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to pull out workers from the National Housing Fund (NHF) contributory funds over non-remittance of deductions made.
Mr. Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC, made the threat in Abuja on Wednesday while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Non-Remittance to the NHF and Utilisation of the Funds from 2011 to Date.
Ajaero said the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has failed to send alerts to civil servants about how much they have been contributing, including their monthly deduction.
He urged the lawmakers to take drastic steps to remove the obstacles to affordable and quality housing for millions of Nigerians, especially workers who make the most contributions to the NHF.
This, according to him, is as identified in the memorandum and other memoranda submitted to the committee.
According to him, the immediate past Managing Director of FMBN, Mr. Ahmed Dangiwa, who is now the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, said he left behind N120 billion in the coffers of the bank.
“He said he was able to mobilise 249.1 billion for Nigeria’s housing fund and increase subscriptions to 197,000 between 2017 and 2022.
He said that in spite of these milestones, millions of Nigerian workers who are in line with sections 4 and 10 of the Act are unable to 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.
He said that in spite of making the statutory contribution of 2.5 percent of the annual salary to the NHF, many workers were unable to access the loan due mainly to administrative bottlenecks.
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 pursuit of the loan.
He said many resort to third-party agencies to fast-track the loan application at unofficial fees, thus creating a perception of corruption in the process of housing loan approval and disbursement to workers who need the funds.
Mr. Madu Hamman, Managing Director, said the total amount of contribution from MDAs from 2011 to date is N238 billion, adding that individual contributions from 2011 to date were N225 million.
He said that the ministerial housing scheme was worth N34.5 billion.
He, however, had time to reconcile the conflicting documents from the ministerial housing pilot scheme that were missing from the one the chairman had.
Reacting to the development, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Musa Bagos, while cross-examining the agency’s aid, found the deference in the documents submitted by the MD to be inconsistent.
He said that 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 August 24, following a request by the MD to enable them to put all the necessary documents together.
NAN