FMBN Grows NHF Collections To N103bn, Records Operational Surplus of N11.58bn
• Gives support to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by providing a N100 billion off-takers’ guarantee.
FMBN Grows NHF Collections To N103bn, Records Operational Surplus of N11.58bn.
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) yesterday enunciated a number of milestones recorded in the last one year, including an operational surplus of N11.58 billion as well as provision of N100 billion off-takers’ guarantee for the President Bola Tinubu administration’s “Renewed Hope” housing projects nationwide.
Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja to mark his one year in office, Managing Director and Chief Executive of the bank, Shehu Osidi, explained that in the last 12 months, the company had made significant progress in its financial and operational performance.
In the past one year, through the bank’s strategic focus on revenue growth, prudent financial management, and cost-efficiency measures, Osidi disclosed that FMBN had reduced operational expenses while maintaining service excellence.
“These efforts have resulted in an operational surplus of N11.58 billion from our management accounts for 2024. This is the first such experience since FMBN came into existence over 30 years ago,” he added.
However, Osidi stated that the figure was expected to come down significantly when impairment was applied, stating that the bank has set out to tackle frontally all aspects of its operations that lead to high impairment on its results, especially in tackling the high non-performing loans inherited by the current management.
He added that the FMBN was pursuing with great efforts the recapitalisation of the bank, stating that a grossly inadequate capital of N2.5 billion is hindering its capacity to perform optimally.
Osidi said, “In order to enhance service delivery and mortgage accessibility, the current executive management has focused on improving operational efficiency and this has resulted in significant improvements in our performance parameters.
“Under the National Housing Fund (NHF) operations, our collections grew by N3 billion in 2024 resulting in total collection of N103 billion, compared to the N100 billion the bank recorded in 2023. This increase in NHF contributions demonstrates renewed trust and participation in the NHF scheme by Nigerian workers.”
To further illustrate the improvements, he said a total of 658 employer organisations and 178,619 employees were registered in 2024 compared to 556 and 113,577, respectively, in 2023.
According to the FMBN chief executive, another significant achievement during the period under consideration is the resumption of Kano State civil servants back into the NHF scheme after 24 years of being out of the scheme.
Under its loan operations, Osidi stated that a total sum of N71.5 billion was approved in the past year compared to N39.7 billion in 2023.
“In the FMBN’s refund operations, a sum of N14.4 billion was refunded to 44,333 beneficiaries compared to N13.2 billion refunded to 40,426 beneficiaries in 2023,” he added.
To support President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the housing sector, the managing director stated that the bank provided a N100 billion off-takers’ guarantee for the programme nationwide.
He stated, “In addition to this, we are also providing direct funding of N19.9 billion for the project in Karsana, Abuja as well as N27 billion facility for the Renewed Housing Project in Ibeju Lekki Lagos.”
Admitting that the financial institution was heavily weighed down by non-performing loans, Osidi said this was due majorly to the quality of credit that the bank used to book, explaining that since coming on board, it chose to challenge the status quo and do things differently.
Osidi stated, “We introduced stricter loan appraisal processes to improve credit quality, reduce loan defaults, and enhance recovery mechanisms. Also, in line with this direction, on the 3rd of June 2024, to demonstrate the seriousness attached to the issue of Non-Performing Loans, we inaugurated seven Recovery Task Teams to recover delinquent loans across the country’s geo-political zones.
“As a direct result of this initiative, we have recovered N10.9 billion in bad loans through the recovery teams. This in addition to our normal recovery activities which also yielded the sum N3.1 billion in 2024.”
Besides, with a meagre paid-up capital of only N2.5 billion, Osidi said the bank had made it a top priority to pursue the recapitalisation through the injection of N500 billion fresh capital.
He added, “Out of this, N250 billion is to be injected by the federal government while we will raise the balance through debt capital. Our robust stakeholder engagements on this issue have led to the submission of a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).”
