In a bid to provide safe and conducive housing, the federal government has concluded plans to unveil a special mortgage scheme for Nigerians living in Diaspora before the end of 2022.
Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, Mr Hamman Madu stated this at the 5th Nigeria Diaspora Investment summit tagged NDIS22 in Abuja Tuesday, with the theme: “Optimizing investment opportunities for national development”.
He said that diaspora mortgage scheme, which is one of the bank's initiatives would bridge the housing deficit gap in the country.
Currently, Nigeria needs about N6 trillion to close over 20 million housing deficit by providing decent shelter for Nigerians especially the low income earners.
Madu disclosed that FMBN had recognised that Nigerians in the diaspora contributed significantly to their host communities and Nigerian economies, adding that monies remitted back home helped to stabilise the country.
Available statistics revealed that there are over 20 million Nigerians in the diaspora and over $20 billion were remitted back home in the last one year.
Madu said: “You invest in your family, friends and the country leading to a huge economic transformation. It is in view of the foregoing and in order to broaden the mandate of FMBN, that we developed a National Housing Fund, NHF, product for Nigerians in the diaspora.
“This product will afford Nigerians in diaspora the opportunity to register with the NHF scheme, make monthly contributions and ultimately be able to access mortgage loans at reasonable rates in order to own their houses back home without having to physically come to Nigeria before they can participate.
“The product is the Diaspora National Housing Mortgage fund. The long window offers the Nigerians in the diaspora mortgage loans to build or to develop houses or to buy and develop houses in Nigeria.
“The product provides an opportunity to own a decent home at home. Man naturally ventures out to search for enduring means of livelihood and thereafter instinctively, head home. His only impediment usually in any home is the absence of a decent accommodation to go back to.
“This product therefore provides him the opportunity to own such a decent home anywhere in the country. This is why FMBN developed the Diaspora mortgage bank programme,
targeted at Nigerians living outside the shores of this country, to give them an opportunity to participate and benefit from the national housing scheme.
“It's a fact that the volume of money remitted to Nigeria by our brothers and sisters in the diaspora is usually large, though part of these remittances are for family upkeep and other needs.
“A large chunk of it is usually meant for investment in residential home and many of such investments usually fail to achieve the aspiration of Nigerians in diaspora and therefore end up alienating them from coming back to Nigeria", he added.
He urged Nigerians in diaspora to seize the opportunity provided by the product to own decent and affordable homes back in Nigeria,
The Coordinator of Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit, NDSI, Dr. Badewa Adejugbe-Williams said that NDSI is made up of diaspora Nigerians, who returns home to give back to the society.
She maintained that NDSI commenced in 2018 with the aim of exposing the diaspora to investment opportunities in Nigeria, thus attracting investment into the country.
Adejugbe-Williams confirmed that Nigerians in diaspora are remitting huge sums of money for social and economic needs of their family members.
“To achieve this, a lot of things was channeled into structuring the NDIS as a platform where diaspora private business owners, notable sponsors and partners, as well as government agencies interact to explore investment opportunities and make business deals for the economic growth of our motherland.", she said.
Adejugbe-Williams hinted that participants at the summit rose from 400 in 2018 to 4,000 during the pandemic.
She said that one of the success stories of the NDIS is that a major organisation made up of about 500 investors, channeled their resources on five different projects.
Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, noted that the platform unveiled opportunities for Nigerians in diaspora to interact with potential investors and partners, collaborators and government officials, with a view to investing their resources, skills, talents and global exposure into the nation’s economy.
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