• Ogun creates home charter centres ahead of launch
GOING by calculations, the soon-to-be-launched Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) would open up the stagnated mortgage sector with lending rates expected to crash and tenors increasing to 20 years by mortgage banks.
The development, which has already affected prevailing rates in the sector, though marginally, is a public-private initiative, which has the Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN) as private sector constituent.
President of MBAN, Femi Johnson, while speaking with journalists on the development, said the initiative was scripted to be a refinancing vehicle for mortgage banks and facilitator of long-term loans for the sector and would also fully effect the projections by the first quarter of 2014.
“The successful take-off of the NMRC will make access to affordable housing a reality for the majority of Nigerians. NMRC will provide the opportunity for rebuilding our housing finance system to a stronger, more competitive and more resilient one that is at par with the systems in developed economies.
In another development, Ogun State government has created centres for its new homeowners’ charter programme to enable the citizens have direct access to the programme. The centres have been strategically located to make people regularise their documents with dedicated staff providing service to them.
The state Commissioner for Physical and Urban Planning, Mr. Gbenga Otenuga, stated that the centres were created to avoid the problem of third-party in the process of regularising the documents by the people. People have the benefit of visiting the centres themselves without operating through third-party as the government has created direct access for them.
The MBAN chief said: “NMRC is a public-private partnership initiative, unlike the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. It is not subsidised, but the Federal Government is supporting the scheme to ensure that rates come down and the target is to get rates reduced to 13 per cent.
“As we all know, a well functioning housing finance system is imperative for a prosperous economy. It indeed plays an important role in stimulating economic growth and creating much-needed jobs within an economy.
“Housing delivery remains crucial and continues to encounter the same challenge of inadequate long term financing. Rapid urbanisation, a growing population, limited land availability in some areas, access for lower income groups and dearth of long-term funds continue to put increasing pressures on current housing finance and delivery systems.
“Mortgage lending has been typically small, poorly accessible, with low depository base, while mortgage finance providers have been vulnerable to significant credit, liquidity and interest rate risks due to their inability to mobilise sufficient long-term and affordable financial resources required for housing.
Otenuga stated that Governor Ibikunle Amosun is passionate to ensure that all property owners benefit from the charter as part of his mission to rebuild the state and also engender urban renewal and development.
He said the centres would be opened immediately Amosun formally unveils the charter programme in Abeokuta on Monday December 16, 2013.
Otenuga further encouraged homeowners to take advantage of the offer to benefit from the urban renewal programme of the state government and also safeguard their property. This is because the fees have been discounted while penalties and fines are waived in line with the provision of the charter programme. The fees were extremely reduced to cushion the effects of the economic situation in the country.
The Homeowners’ Charter Programme is to enable homeowners regularise the legal status and documentation of their property.
It is expected that property with regularised documents will benefit from Ogun State government’s urban renewal policy through effective planning of facilities in the areas of education, health and other essential infrastructure.
By Chijioke Nelson and Adeniyi Idowu Adunola
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