Federal Mortgage Bank: Success story under Buhari must be sustained — Fashola

By Bisi Adewumi

The Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN has said that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2015,the FMBNÑ has a positive story of service delivery.

Fashola while delivering his keynote address at the 2022 Inaugural Retreat of the bank held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel on Monday, stated that the bank has success story to tell in the number of mortgages issued, housing schemes funded and completed, changes in eligibility conditions to improve access to funding.

According to the Minister, “This positive story is only a small part of what is possible if the bank imagines and reinvent itself.” This is why he was enthused by the choice of the theme, ‘ STRATEGY REPOSITIONING FOR OPTIMISED PERFORMANCE.’There could be no other better theme, considering the quantity and the needs of Nigerians which have not remained the same since the creation of the bank, decades ago.

The bank which was set up to provide service to Nigerians was established by the Federal Government. And, as promoter of the bank, the Federal Government has infused the board and management with a sense of how it should be repositioned by constituting a more representative board that’s reflective of our national diversity of gender, religion, ethnicity, and this has been achieved whilst increasing the number of banking professionals in the management and board.

Mr. Fashola stressed that the intension for doing all this, is to ensure optimum service to the real owners of the bank, who are the Nigerian public and contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF).

The government envisions and welcomes a type of repositioning that emphasises the banking identity of the institution. If the institution is called a bank, it collects people’s money and gives out loans, therefore, it must be a bank and is expected to act like one.

The government has decided to support the acquisition of the bank of core banking applications and softwares. Again, the National Council on Housing and Lands has adopted the recommendation for the bank to seek NDIC’s insurance of contributors’ fund just as it’s done for depositors in other banks.

In all, despite the success story and some giant strides taken by the bank, Fashola asked rhetorically if this is all the bank could offer. He thus charged the deliberators to strategize more on repositioning for optimized performance, as much as he commended the board and management for the vision and the action behind the conception and the undertaking of the retreat.