The Federal Government on Thursday launched the first 10,000 mortgages for the commencement of the Presidential Initiative on the delivery of affordable housing units to Nigerians.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in Abuja that the launch was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to fulfill its promise of providing affordable houses to Nigerians.
According to her, the launch is the kick-off of the first initial 10,000 mortgages to be provided by lenders.
She said the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company-NMRC would provide mortgage lending with access to more liquidity and long term funds.
She said the initiative would address the limitation faced by banks to deliver mortgage services.
Okonjo-Iweala also said that the scheme would target first time home buyer to buy houses between two and N20 million.
“We try to keep it low to address our first time buyers and above all our young people; essentially what we have done is to develop an online portal especially for this scheme.
She gave the address of the portal as www.housingfinance.gov.ng, and urged interested applicants to access the portal from Monday Aug 4.
Okonjo-Iweala said that upon completion of the form, the processing time for prequalification which used to be six to nine months had been reduced to three to six weeks.
The minister, however, appealed to states that were yet to make commitments to do so in the interest of their indigenes.
She appealed to private sector to seize the opportunity and invest in the initiative aimed at reducing the housing deficit in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kogi, Niger, Anambra and Bauchi had keyed into the scheme. (NAN)
Click HERE to register and find out more about the scheme from tomorrow.
As much as I applaud this idea-that is if it will really be made available to the common man-, I cannot help but wonder about the timing and if this is not just another campaign gimmick. What are are your thoughts on this? Do leave your comments.
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