The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) has called for the recapitalisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), to enable it to provide affordable housing to Nigerians.
Chairman of the council, Dr Samson Opaluwah, made the call at a news conference to celebrate CORBON’s 35th Anniversary, on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, in Abuja.
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, had in February disclosed Federal Government plans to increase the bank’s capital base to N500 billion.
Although the commitment is yet to be implemented, Opaluwah said that the recapitalisation was a major step towards providing affordable housing to Nigerians.
He said that the N2.5 billion current capital base of the bank was grossly inadequate to achieve its mandate, adding that the capital was not enough to provide housing to 220 million Nigerians.
“How many buildings can N2.5 billion build in Nigeria? Even in Abuja, I am sure if you split N2.5 billion, it will just give you just a few structures,” he said.
Opaluwah also called for the liberalisation of access to mortgages with appropriate safeguards to enable young people, particularly fresh graduates, to access the services.
He pointed out that, currently, young people were not accessing mortgage loans because the required securities were unattainable to most of them.
He stressed the need for the government to support citizens, especially youths, who were currently living at the mercy of landlords to access sustainable accommodation.
“CORBON is, therefore, asking for policies that will make it easier for young people to access mortgages to own houses at an early age,” he said.
The chairman also called for the development of a National Housing Estates Development Policy at all levels of government to boost quality housing delivery.
He also called for the rollout of the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programme to up-skill, certify and licence informal artisans.
“This will improve their self-esteem, quality, proficiency, and capacity to deliver.,” he said.
Opaluwah equally called for a national programme to support entrepreneurship in the building construction sector through the provision of start-up capitals for professionals and building trades artisans.
He explained that such support would enable the artisans to produce local building materials and establish companies as building expert contractors.
The chairman said that CORBON had in the last 35 years made substantial strides in elevating the standards of building practice in the country.
He identified one of the achievements as the accreditation of over 50 tertiary institutions to offer building programmes to ensure a steady stream of qualified professionals for the building sector.
He added that CORBON had also registered and licensed about 4,000 builders to ensure adherence to professional ethics and standards in building construction.
He also said that CORBON had equally developed and implemented a training strategy for the Federal Government’s National Capacity Building Programme in construction trades.
He said that about 50,000 beneficiaries were trained across 250 training centres in six construction trades under the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).
This, according to him, will address the skills gap in the industry.
“CORBON also midwife the establishment of Sector Skills Council for Building in Nigeria, under the NSQF and developed the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for nine building construction trades.
“This provided a benchmark for skills and competencies, such as masonry, carpentry, tiling, painting, welding, iron bending, aluminium work, fabrication, cladding, and formwork among others,” he said.
Opaluwah said that as part of activities to celebrate CORBON 35th Anniversary, the council would bring different stakeholders in the building construction sector in the country and the diaspora together.
He explained that the idea was to provide a platform for the stakeholders to showcase their developments in the industry and proffer solutions to nagging issues in the sector.
He reiterated CORBON’s commitment to foster stronger synergies with other professional regulatory bodies and associations in the building sector.
He also said that the council would push for the enforcement of the Nigerian National Building Code and its domestication at state levels.
By Angela Atabo
