FMBN pays out N30.3 billion to build over 4,000 homes - MD

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) says it has disbursed N30.3 billion to fund the construction of over 4,000 homes across the country under its cooperative loan window.

The Managing Director of the Bank, Mr. Madu Hamman, said this at the 6th summit of the National Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.

Hamman, represented by his Special Assistant, Mr. Dominic Agabi, said the bank had, as of September, registered no fewer than 1,359 cooperatives with a total membership of 23,120.

The managing director said the bank was currently receiving more cooperative loan requests.

According to him, FMBN remains the cheapest source of housing and mortgage financing in the country.

He said that some of the advantages of the FMBN Cooperative Housing Development Loan (CHDL) were the disbursement of funds at an interest rate of 9.5 percent to cooperatives.

Others are the 100 percent financing of housing development and the 90 percent infrastructural facilities provided by the bank for cooperatives.

Hamman said that for a cooperative to access the construction loan from the bank, it must be registered with the registrar of cooperatives in charge of the area, among others.

"It is important to note that cooperatives have been adopted as the most crucial vehicle for the integration of the informal sector into the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme.

"In this light, it will be rolling out more innovative products to serve the people better."

"We are preparing and reforming to respond appropriately to the needs of our customers," he said.

The Supreme reports that the two-day summit attracted cooperative societies and members from different states of the country.