The Federal Government on Sunday announced that henceforth, mortgages below N5m would not attract the initial payment of 10 per cent equity from off-takers.
It stated that this was part of efforts to ensure the provision of affordable housing to Nigerians, especially the low-income earners.
The Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Mustapha Shehuri, stated this while inaugurating a 125-unit housing estate that was financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and developed by Messrs LCK Projects Nigeria Limited in Enugu.
Shehuri, according to a statement from the ministry on Sunday, noted that in view of the challenge of housing deficit in Nigeria, the government planned to build mass houses in every state of the federation for public workers and other interested parties over the next three years through the public-private partnership model.
He said national housing models had been designed and approved for each geo-political zone, adding that these would take care of Nigeria’s cultural and climatic diversities in the choice of house types and standardisation.
“This will translate to affordability of housing for Nigerians and will also create employment opportunities for our teeming youths,” Shehuri said.
The minister noted that the FMBN had a pivotal role to play in the actualisation of the aspirations of many Nigerians to own a home through mortgage, adding that the government would lend its full support to the financial institution, especially as regards its recapitalisation.
Shehuri further noted that Nigerian workers would be the major beneficiaries of houses built under the National Housing Programme.
The Enugu State Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, according to the statement, assured the minister of the readiness of the state to continue to provide an enabling environment for housing development to thrive.
Shehuri was also in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, where he inaugurated the first set of 72 units of houses out of the 240 being financed by the FMBN and undertaken by the Ebonyi State Housing Development Corporation.
He was also in Owerri, Imo State for the inauguration of the 100-unit FMBN-Minfa Housing Estate, the statement added.
