Housing: Kano partners with Federal Mortgage Bank

Kano State Government has perfected partnership with the Federal Mortgage Bank to address the housing problems in the state.

According to the state Deputy Governor, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the collaboration becomes necessary following the growing pollution in the state, which is already rated the most populated in the country.

Gawuna said the housing project is also in line with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s foresight to give Kano the status of a mega-city.

He said specifically, the state government is committed to ensuring that people in the State, especially workers, avail themselves of services of the Federal Mortgage Bank in terms of housing and improvement in other social amenities.

Gawuna, who stated this while receiving a delegation from the Federal Mortgage Bank, on a courtesy visit in his office, maintained that, “considering the strategic position of  Kano state, not only in the North, but in the whole of Africa, Kano stands to benefit from the housing Scheme under the Federal Mortgage Bank more than any other State in Nigeria.

"It is due to this positive development we are trying to liaise with some competent developers to see how we can come up with a proposal  to make sure that we commence doing something very tangible on this issue of housing development.

"On our part, the state government has constructed over 2,000 housing units at Kwanar Gurjiya to alleviate the housing problem especially for civil servants and other low income earners.”

Gawuna noted that some civil servants in the state have developed keen interest on the housing contributory scheme which he said is a clear indication of the  progress so far achieved by the programme in Kano.

"If some will start contributing, a conclusion will probably be reached that all the Civil Servants in the state may wish to participate especially if they are satisfied with the impacts of what they will start to benefit from the scheme," he added.

To showcase how the programme will gradually be accepted by the Civil Servants, the Deputy Governor cited as example of how long it took the Government to convince workers on the ongoing health contributory scheme which is now yielding positive results.

He further expressed hope that the Federal Mortgage Housing Scheme would ensure that workers who participate in the programme reap from whatever they contribute on the ground, stressing that "actually, with what happened before, if you keep contributing and there is nothing on ground, the workers were so scared, they could no longer go back to it and you cannot blame them, but now that we are seeing it, you have done a lot in partnering with some organizations even here in Kano.”

The Deputy Govrrnor therefore, commended the Federal Mortgage Bank for what it has been doing towards improving their services.

While speaking, the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage of Nigeria Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa said they were at the Deputy Governor’s office to strengthen the long relationship between their office and the Kano State Government.

Architect Dangiwa explained that the Federal Mortgage of Nigeria was created by an act to provide affordable housing finance to Nigerians through systematic utilization of the housing funds that constituted 2.5% contributions by Nigerians.

"This is the money we use to create affordable mortgages at 6% interest over a period of 30 years for the Nigerian Civil Servants or to formal or informal sectors," he disclosed.

Dangiwa pointed out that in collaborating with Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) at the national level, the Bank had commenced a pilot scheme of constructing 100 housing unit in each State of the Federation, adding that currently, two States were chosen per geopolitical zone including Abuja and Lagos and the project has already started in those places.

He said his team purposely visited the State to see how Kano would continue to participate in the scheme due to its position as commercial center not only in Nigeria but in the African Continent.

"We have been trying to liaise with the State Labour Congress to ensure that they convinced the State Government to return in to this contribution of National Housing Funds for the benefit of the Civil Servants," he added.

He hailed the administration of Ganduje for its outstanding performance in terms of the infrastructural development in the state.