Mr Olusesan Sotonwa, the State Coordinator of the Federal Morgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in Oyo State, on Tuesday, said no fewer than 400 workers had benefited from the bank’s home renovation loan scheme from 2015 to 2019.
Sotonwa, who made this disclosure on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan, said the beneficiaries were drawn from the federal, state and private establishments.
“The beneficiaries were drawn from workers, who keyed into the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme,” he said.
Sotonwa said many other applications were being treated and more workers would soon benefit from the scheme.
He said four housing estate projects were being funded by the bank in the state for interested or would-be subscribers.
The coordinator said 100 and 48 units of one bedroom and two bedroom flats had been completed in Ogbomosho and Ibadan respectively for interested buyers or subscribers.
”Also, 100 units of one bedroom and two bedroom flats located off the new Ile-Ife road in Ibadan are being completed while another set of 100 units of one bedroom and two bedroom flats in Ogbomosho will soon be completed.
”NHF is a scheme that is working to address the huge housing deficit across the country.
”I urge workers to key into the scheme to enable them enjoy the scheme that would facilitate the acquisition of cheap, decent and affordable houses,” Sotonwa said.
Meanwhile, Dr Stephen Owoshagba-Oni, the FMBN Southwest Zonal Coordinator, urged federal workers to use the opportunity of being enrolled in the NHF programme to tap into any of the bank’s loan windows.
Owoshagba-Oni told NAN that the process of benefiting from any of the FMBN loan windows was not cumbersome as some workers believed.
”For instance, under the Home Renovation Loan Scheme, the loan can be made available to beneficiaries under 30 days if the employees and employers do their documentation right.
”Other NHF products can take up to 60 days before the loan can be accessed,” he said.
Owoshagba-Oni explained that workers could access loan above the amount contributed and that their contributions were safe and refundable after 35 years in service or 60 years of age.
He said that the interests on loans were among the least in the country.
