The CBN, Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN) and other mortgage institutions on Wednesday unveiled underwriting standards on how people in the informal sector could own affordable houses .
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders did the unveiling in Lagos.
It would create a uniform standard for disbursement of mortgage loans to intending house owners in the informal sector of the economy.
The programme when operational would enable the the mortgage market to capture 58 per cent of Nigerians in the informal sector.
The workshop organised by the CBN on Nigerian Housing Finance Programme was attended by participants from 34 mortgage institutions.
It trained the participants on how to address the housing deficit in the country.
Mr Adedeji Adesemoye, the Deputy Director in charge of Nigerian Housing Finance Programme (NHFP) at the CBCN, said the training would nip in the bud all problems affecting access to loans by the informal sector.
Also, Mr Niyi Akinlusi, President, Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN) said that the informal sector was contributing about 60 per cent to the national GDP.
He said that the sector which had been neglected for long has now been captured.
“It is time for us to start working and bring into the housing market, the mortgage market that is a bridge for many people to own their houses,” he said.
He said that MBAN had put in tools for the 34 mortgage institutions across the country to capture a larger percentage of the informal sector in the home ownership net.
He said this would reduce the housing deficit being experienced across the nation.
Also, Mr Umar Abdullahi, Executive Director, Business Development, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) said that he was impressed by the standards which he said was “all encompassing”.
“FMBN mandate is to create social housing for Nigerians and the informal sector is inclusive.
“The informal sector contributes a greater percentage to the economy, the mandate of the FMBN is to provide housing for all Nigerians under the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme,” he said.
Mrs Dorathy Obata who represented the Managing Director of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) said that close to 70 per cent of home seekers she had interactions with were in the informal sector.
Obata who is NMRC’s Head of Business Development said that people in the informal sector were middle income earners who did not have structures.
“This is a welcomed development in comparison to what we had before which was the formal sector uniform underwriting standard,” she said.
Also, Mrs Adenike Fasanya-Osile, Housing and Mortgage Consultant to (NHFP) said that the unveiling was important because there was need for a policy to drive the initiative.
Fasanya-Osile said that underwriters were being trained to use “common sense” to be able to determine good borrowers.
“We are also going to be telling the populace that you must not work in an office to have access to home ownership,” she said.
She said that measures were in place to ensure borrowers in the informal sector meet their loan obligations. (NAN)
