‘Housing Is A Human Right’ – Gimba Ya’u Kumo

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Gimba Ya’u Kumo, has said that “housing is a human right” and he was doing everything possible to ensure that low and affordable housing schemes were provided across the 36 states of the federation – including the Federal Capital Territory.

Kumo said this, in a statement made available to Daily Times by the Head of Corporate Affairs, Alh, Lawal Kofar Sauri.

He noted that when the Federal Government established the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in 1956, its mandate was to ensure the provision of housing for the teeming populace of the country by way of providing mortgage finance assistance to Nigerians desirous of such support.

According to the statement, Kumo had embarked on some giant strides that changed the way things were done at the bank.

“It operates as an effective vehicle for increasing the mobilisation of long-term funds, wholesale lending, and expansion of mortgage lending services to all segments of the Nigerian population,” he said, adding that “the management and administration of the contributory savings scheme known as the National Housing Fund (NHF) established by Act 3 of 1992. The NHF is a pool that mobilises long-term funds from Nigerian workers, banks, insurance companies and the Federal Government to advance soft loans at single digit interest rate to its contributors.”