You’re to boost access to housing by Nigerians – Fashola tasks new FMBN board
Story from Abah ADAH, Abuja
Minister of Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola has charged a newly constituted board members of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to work as team towards solving the problem of access to housing in the country.
The Minister who gave the charge Thursday in Abuja while inaugurating the 21-man board, which has Mr Gbeleye Ariyo as Chairman and Mr Hamman Madu as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, therefore implored the new management to ensure the completion of over 2,000 housing units that are at various stages of completion under the Ministerial Pilot Housing Scheme.
Urging them to see their appointment as rare privilege, the Minister said, “It is not an opportunity for self-help but to help others, especially to own a home, by rendering selfless service.
“Please manage your individual ego and help us to solve the problem of access to housing and do not become the problem.”
Assuring them of government support, Fashola warned them against non-compliance with the law in discharging their duties, saying anyone found wanting may be shown the way out before the end of their tenure.
“As a creature of law, you are forbidden from making the bank do anything that the law does not authorise, and you can become individually and corporately liable for non- compliance with the law,” he said.
According to the Minister, the warning became necessary because “in the tenure of previous boards and managements before this administration, the bank has been made to do things the law did not contemplate and this has resulted in hobbling liabilities which I regret to inform you that you must now confront and resolve”.
Speaking further, Fashola said, “I expect this management and board to bring to a lawful end, all other ventures into which the bank has dabbled which are not supported by law.”
He however advised them to follow due process in the course doing all that needed to be done to correct the anomalies of the past.
Reminding the new board that their primary mandate was to reposition the mortgage bank as pre-eminent mortgage bank for Nigeria as envisaged by its founders, Fashola that informed why majority of the members are either bankers by training or bankers by work experience spanning several decades.
“The reason is clear, all the regulatory obligations that the bank has to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must be complied with,” he said.
On their part, the new board assured the federal government that it would not fail in the discharge of its assignment to reposition the bank for the growth of the housing sector in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari, had on April 14 approved the reconstitution of the Board of the FMBN, with a view to repositioning the bank as a core banking institution with core competence in mortgage finance.
Buhari had earlier this year, appointed Mr Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, a Chartered Accountant as Chairman of the FMBN Board.
On the new Board, Hamman Madu, representing the North-East zone with a background of over 30 years in the mortgage industry, was appointed the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.
Other members are Umar Zubaida, Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services – representing the North-West zone; Chukwuma Kingsley, Executive Director, Business Development and Portfolio Management – representing the South-South zone; Mustapha Lukman Olayiwola, Executive Director, Loans and Mortgage Services – representing the North-Central zone.
Others listed by the Presidency included Abimbola Asein from the South-West zone – representing the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; Ejezie Sandra Nkechi, South-East – representing the Public, as well as two representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The appointment of the Board took effect from April 13, 2022, with the exception of the Chairman, Mr Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, whose appointment took effect from January 5, this year.
Speaking during their inauguration on Thursday by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the MD of the Bank commended the President for finding members of the board worthy to contribute to the development of the economy through the bank.
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