FG Begins Commercialisation Of Federal Mortgage Bank

The Federal Government on Thursday announced that it had commenced the process for the full commercialisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

Part of the process was the inauguration of the Joint Technical Committee for the commercialisation of the bank by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

A statement issued in Abuja by the Head, Public Communications, BPE, Amina Othman, stated that an eight-member committee, comprising four members each from the bureau and the FMBN were inaugurated to begin the bank’s commercialisation process.

The Director-General, BPE, Alex Okoh, who inaugurated the committee, said efforts to reposition the bank were targeted at bridging the country’s huge housing deficit estimated at 22 million as at 2019.

He said the terms of reference for the committee would include to conduct a diagnostic review of the bank’s existing institutional framework, organisational structures and operational modalities.

Okoh said the committee would review and harmonise all existing policies, law and regulations governing mortgage banking in Nigeria.

This, he said, was in order to identify areas that would facilitate the implementation of full commercialisation and recapitalisation of the FMBN, among others.

He recalled that the bureau met with the FMBN management team on February 18, where discussions on the BPE’s proposed plan for the commercialisation of FMBN as approved by the National Council on Privatisation was held discussed.

Okoh was quoted as saying, “Interestingly, the proposal is in tandem with the ongoing efforts of the FMBN’s management to reposition the bank for optimum performance as articulated in the five-year strategic plan developed by the bank.”

He said it was after this that it was resolved that a joint technical committee should be constituted to prepare the bank for commercialisation and re-capitalisation.

The BPE boss said this would be done by reviewing the five-year strategic plan with the view of embedding it within the overall reform plan of the bureau for FMBN.