The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has implored the House of Representatives to enact necessary legislations to facilitate the creation of mortgages in Nigeria and consequently increase the rate of housing delivery in the country.
Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, managing director/Chief executive officer of FMBN, while on a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal yesterday in Abuja, said there are six bills awaiting the attention of the lawmakers, some of them since 2006. These bills include:
1. A bill for an Act to Provide for the Repeal of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act 1993 and to make Comprehensive Provisions for the Re-establishment of the FMBN and its Board of Directors and Matters Connected Therewith;
2. A Mortgage Institutions (Amendment) Bill for the licensing and operations of mortgage institutions in Nigeria;
3. A Bill to Provide for the Amendment of the Insurance Act 2003 for and other Matters Connected Therewith;
4. A Bill to Amend the Trustee Investment Act to facilitate the investment of trusts and other funds in Nigeria in locally-issued securities;
5. A Bill to Enact the Residential Mortgages Act to modernize aspects of the law relating to residential mortgages in the FCT as a model for state governments; and
6. A Bill to Enact the Residential Mortgages (Tax Relief) Act to grant tax relief to mortgage borrowers and therefore encourage Nigerians to take up mortgages.

Kumo said the passage of the bills will ease mortgage and property transactions and streamline the registration and enforcement of liens on mortgaged property in the event of loan default. He added that the employment generation and wealth creation potential of housing and homeownership are enormous. “If we can jumpstart the housing sector in Nigeria and attain its GDP contribution target of 15 per cent under the Nigeria Vision 20:2020 Project, incidences of corruption, widespread poverty and mass unemployment that we are battling with today will undoubtedly reduce significantly,” Kumo remarked.

Speaker Tambuwal assured the FMBN management that the lawmakers would resume work on the bills if that would impact positively on the chances of Nigerians to own residential houses. He lamented the fact that the majority of Nigerians do not have decent shelter, assuring that the House of Representatives would do anything possible to get the bills passed into law. Though he gave no time frame as to when the bills will be passed into law, Tambuwal promised that the House would work assiduously towards their speedy passage.

Studies have shown that Nigeria is currently having 16 million housing deficit which requires about N56 trillion to redress.