ECONOMIC INSIGHT FMBN disburses N7bn loan to 800 beneficiaries – MD

The Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Ahmed Dangiwa, has said that the bank has disbursed over N7 billion loan to 800 beneficiaries this year.

Dangiwa disclosed this at the FMBN 2017 management retreat held in Abuja themed ‘Towards Improving FMBN Transaction Turnaround Time’.

He also said that the bank recovered N2.4 billion during the year as against a cumulative figure of N8.3 billion in 2016.

Dangiwa said the bank was managing some of the housing estates to forestall diversion of funds and ensure recovery of loans even as he said that the focus of the bank’s loan was to ensure completion of ongoing projects.

“The new management has also made a total refund payment of N6.6 billion to 44,370 beneficiaries in 2017 against a cumulative figure of N7.4 billion as at 2016.

“Our backlog of unaudited accounts is expected to be cleared before the end of the year,’’ he also said.

The FMBN boss said the bank’s effort at implementing risk management framework was ongoing, assisted by the Institute of Directors to make the bank an institute of sound corporate governance culture.

Dangiwa said the mortgage market was subject to myriad of legislative requirements including the requirement for governor’s consent before a mortgage transaction could be legal.

In order to address this, he said the bank created the Internal Records Office as an interim measure to secure its loans and provide some form of equity to cover loan facilities.

He said the National Housing Fund (NHF) collection was growing steadily, adding that as a result of its strategic engagements, several noncontributing states had indicated readiness to re-join the scheme.

In his address, the Minister of State II for Power, Works and Housing, Suleiman Zarma, urged the bank to ensure adequate liquidity, develop secondary mortgage market and promote home ownership.

The minister challenged the bank to look into the NHF registration, collection and loan processes and initiate possible review towards reducing the current transaction turnaround time.

“These services are critical as they form the bulk of areas of the service needs of the public, and the manner the bank delivers on these services form most important indicators of the quality of services provided,’’ he said.