Contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) will now enjoy easy access to records of their contributions as the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on Wednesday launched its internet and mobile platforms in Abuja.
The platforms will help the bank to manage the housing fund transparently and afford contributors to NHF scheme opportunity to, in the comfort of their homes/offices monitor their monthly remittance as well as their cumulative balance.
Viewpoint Housing News reports that features of the new service include: *219# USSD, Mobile App, Self Service Kiosk, SMS alert and Email notification.
With these, a contributor can check contributions, retrieve NHF number, request for account statement, use the mortgage calculator to see mortgage affordability and repayments options and search for NHF-related information from a bulletin board service.
Though operated since 1992, there are only 5 million subscribers to NHF across Nigeria.
It is therefore, hoped that with improved transparency and accountability in the management of the fund, more will enroll in the scheme.
The Managing Director of FMBN, Mr Ahmed Musa Dangiwa who was elated by the innovation said the bank opted for code *219# because it has potential for huge mobile penetration and it can be used anywhere in the world regardless of the telecom service provider.
Dangiwa lamented that the scheme has faced challenges arising “from employers who either fail to remit or only partially remit their workers’ NHF deductions to FMBN; employers failing to provide schedules of deductions; the cumbersome manner of the manual update of physical passbook; and most importantly that most contributors do not know the status of their NHF contributions which largely questioned the accountability and transparency in the management of the NHF”.
He said the bank is now poised to achieve fully automated end-to-end IT business processes which will enable business partners, contemporaries and the general public to make enquiries or apply for any loan products and services from the comfort of their homes.
“Above all, they’ll be able to monitor their monthly contributions to the scheme and hold us accountable,” the Managing Director reiterated.
He appealed to Nigerian workers in both public and private sectors and even the self-employed to join NHF and commence contributions of 2.5 percent of their monthly income.
“Your participation opens the door to a wide range of loans that attract single-digit interest rates – NHF mortgage loan is at 6 percent – and as we emphasise, all contributions are refundable to the contributor with interest in line with the provisions of the NHF Act,” Dangiwa stated.
Highpoint was unveiling of *219# logo by the representative of Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Gabriel Aduda. Aduda is Permanent Secretary in the office of the SGF.
He lamented that by giving only 18,935 mortgages for a population of close to 200 million, FMBN has not rendered impressive service to Nigerians.
It was stressed that with this innovation, human factor which propels corrupt tendencies and practices will be put under check.
