B
by Emmanuella Anokam
The National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is aimed at facilitating the mobilisation of funds for the provision of houses for Nigerians at affordable prices.
All Nigerians in employment whether self employed or in paid employment are required by the NHF Act No.3 of 1992 to contribute 2.5 per cent of their basic salary or income to the fund.
Such deductions or contributions are remitted to the FMBN with schedule of payment indicating on their passbooks the amount contributed by each employee and the period covered.
The pool of the contributions being remitted to the FMBN are being given to civil servants as mortgage loan at six per cent interest rate with maximum repayment period of 30 years.
According to the act, the loan shall be for the purpose of building, purchasing or renovating a residential accommodation.
Meanwhile, the scheme, with its passbook era has been facing some challenges such as non-remittance of deductions by several employers, under-remittance by most employers and non-provision of remittance schedules of deductions.
Other challenges noted by the new FMBN management are that contributions’ records are updated and maintained manually in passbooks while most contributors do not know the status of their contributions.
In view of these, the FMBN recently inaugurated a digital mobile application called the NHF Mobile App, a FMBN Information Technology service delivery channel based on internet and mobile platforms for contributors to enable them to have unfettered access to the operations of the scheme.
This will assist civil servants to conveniently get updates on their contributions at a go instead of going through the passbooks manually.
During the inauguration of the mobile app, FMBN Managing Director, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, said that contributors could easily get NHF updates by dialling *219# on mobile phones.
Dangiwa noted that contributors could equally access the scheme through the NHF Mobile App for android and iOS platforms, revamped www.fmbn.gov.ng online self service kiosk and SMS as well as email notifications.
“This is in line with the` FMBN digitALL’ philosophy of efficiency, transparency, accountability and excellent service delivery.
“The FMBN digitALL encapsulates our strategic goal to achieve fully automated; end to end IT business process in the bank.
“NHF contributors will now be empowered to request NHF information on-the-go from anywhere in the world.
“Using any platform, an NHF contributor will be empowered to update his or her personal information records on our data base, check status of NHF contributions, and retrieve his or her NHF registration number.
“A contributor can also request for statements of account, calculate mortgage affordability and repayment, and search for NHF-related information from a bulletin board service,’’ he explained.
Dangiwa said that on assumption in office in May 2017, some of the challenges being experienced in the implementation of the scheme were brought to the management attention to tackle.
According to the FMBN boss, some of the challenges arose from employers who either failed to remit totally or only partially remit their workers NHF deductions to FMBN and employers failing to provide schedules of deductions.
“The cumbersome manner of the manual update of physical NHF passbooks and most importantly that most contributors do not know the status of their NHF contributions largely questioned the accountability and transparency in the management of the NHF.
“Having critically evaluated the issues, the management decided to automate the process and give NHF contributors’ unfettered access to information pertaining t their contributions and policies associated with the scheme.
“The decision to focus on *219# service out of all available channels was borne-out of the desire to realise the huge potential of the mobile penetration in Nigeria, as the preferred medium of reaching out to our teeming contributors’’, he explained further.
He said the contributions would open doors for a wide range of loans that attract single digit interest rate of six per cent.
He also emphasised that the FMBN would always refund contributors who had retired or resigned with interest, in line with the provisions of the NHF Act.
The NHF Mobile App Chief Consultant, Mr Edwin Okoro, described the app as an ecosystem of innovative mobile messaging integrated into a single suite.
Okoro said that the FMBN App was capable of addressing challenges associated with effective monitoring of NHF, observing that the system would give contributors a superior customer experience, increased access to their contributions and greater transparency.
He stated that the system would make available to contributors clearer disclosure and convenience from the comfort of their homes and offices or while on-the-go.
Mrs Felicia Aningo, FCT Coordinator, FMBN also expressed happiness on the new NHF App and said that the new development would help the bank to attend to its numerous customers conveniently.
According to Aningo, FMBN has at last got it best because customers can now sit in their offices and homes to check their balances and do other transactions.
“It has not been easy in meeting needs of our numerous customers; most questions can now be attended and resolved seamlessly in a convenient way’’, he said.
The Trade Union Congress and some civil servants also lauded the FMBN for introducing the NHF mobile app.
Mr Boboi Kaigama, the president of who commended the bank on the development, described the platform as a confidence building procedure which would enhance transparency and encourage workers to continue to contribute.
He added that the bank could further be more efficient by bringing on board contributors as members of the board, recapitalisation and compliance with the NHF Act.
Mr Mustapha Oloyede, a civil servant who noted that the digital mobile app for the scheme was apt also said that the platform should be sustained and improved on to address the needs of consumers.
Many civil servants said that the platform would advance the sector and check corruption, thereby making the contributors, especially retirees, to have confidence and trust because contributions are believed to be going to the right place.(NANFeatures)
