The Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board has been a key executor of housing policies initiated by Federal Government of Nigeria from the pre-independence era to address among other things the housing and mortgage needs of Federal Government employees as a corporate social responsibility of employer.
Primarily, one of the duties of the Board is to advance loans to federal government employees for them to Improve or extend or renovate a residential house anywhere in Nigeria, being a house owned by the staff in question to which he has a valid title.
As we all may be aware housing is a fulfilment of human life, a life beyond simple survival and mere living. For a worker owing a personal house is a task which must be fulfilled. To further emphasise the importance of housing, good befitting cars are referred to as mobile house, including a six feet stop-over home for the dead is equally a home before the final home religiously believed to be a paradise or mansion as the case may be.
For a home to be decent and pleasant it’s expected to be renovated to assume the original stature or an improved standard to meet the current reality.
It is on this note that the Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr. (Mrs.) Hannatu Adamu Fika led the management of the Board to the Managing Director, FMBN and his team to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bank so that public servants who are Stakeholders and major contributors to the NHF can reap where they have sowed and laboured.
The one million naira single digit home renovation loans accessible through the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board for public servants is the first phase of partnership between FGSHLB and FMBN in a cooperative effort to ensure that the transformation agenda of the present administration is actualised in the service especially in the housing sector, which is a major welfare component.
The present administration believed that, Persons who have been homeless carry within them a certain philosophy of life which makes them apprehensive, uncoordinated and this affect their productivity which invariably affects the nation’s growth and development.
This new facility is open to all who have liquidated their housing loan facility as well as those who want to apply afresh for the home renovation loans to upgrade their apartments. It will be in batches of one hundred applicants in the first instance and it is first come first served.
The loan is repayable for a maximum period of four years or the remaining service year of an applicant which cannot be less than one year.
The culture of home renovation is very popular in the advanced world because of the maximum impacts it has on the inhabitants. Home revitalization results in better living conditions and improvement of aesthetics of the surrounding neighbourhood.
In addition to the occupants enjoying improved living situations, the value of the property is enhanced. I think the potential beneficiaries of this scheme will be grateful to the management of the Board, FMBNÂ Â and the federal government for this laudable initiative. This will invariably address the difficulties faced in accessing soft loans by public servants and the pains of high interest rate required to service such little loans from the conventional mortgage and commercial banks.
Written by Akinwale Adegbola.
