In order to assist Nigerians abroad to own a home in Nigeria, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) says it is developing a diaspora mortgage housing scheme for Nigerians living abroad.
The Managing Director of FMBN, Ahmed Dangiwa spoke in Abuja on Thursday when the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, paid him a courtesy visit.
He described the visit as timely because the bank was currently managing Nigerians in the Diaspora on mortgage products developed for them.
Dangiwa said that several presentations had been made on the subject at external engagements attended by the bank, particularly in the UK and the U.S.
He said the bank had received positive responses and visits as a result of some of the engagements.
“The Diaspora Mortgage is a special window developed for Nigerians living abroad to facilitate access to finance for residential housing development at home.
“The steps we took show that we have the interest of Nigerians in Diaspora,” Dangiwa said.
He said that the central focus of the bank’s strategic realignment was to strengthen its partnership and collaborate with stakeholders to promote mutual understanding to achieve the purpose of the National Housing Fund (NHF).
He said that the bank was established to provide affordable mortgages to drive home ownership among Nigerians, particularly low and medium income earners, through NHF.
Dangiwa said Nigerian workers contributed 2.5 per cent of their monthly income to the NHF scheme.
In her speech, Dabiri-Erewa said the project would make the lives of Nigerians in Diaspora easier by enabling them to acquire their own houses.
She said that it would deal with the major challenges faced by Nigerians in Diaspora as many had been duped by friends and relatives.
“Many of them will send some money home for people to help them build houses but at the end, those relatives will spend the money without doing anything,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
She said that Dangiwa had made mortgage attractive as poor Nigerians could now own houses.
Dabiri-Erewa said it was important that something was done urgently to ensure that Nigerians in Diaspora owned houses in the country.
She said that the staff of the commission would participate in the bank’s mortgage programme.
