TheCable

The federal government says it has commenced the allocation of 8,925 houses to deserving applicants nationwide under the national housing programme (NHP).

Marcus Ogunbiyi, permanent secretary of the ministry of housing and urban development, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

On November 1, 2023, the federal government earmarked N50 billion to finance the construction of 40,000 units of housing under the “Renewed Hope” agenda.

Ogunbiyi said the first batch of the allocation process was concluded after a review of the conditions and procedures for the sale of houses under the NHP 

“Out of a total of 8925 applications that were received,1,294  were for outright payment, 2408 for mortgage, 2184 for rent to own and 3039 were for instalment payment modes,” he said.

“The offer of new provisional allocation letters for the first batch of successful applicants under the outright payment mode are now ready.

“The successful subscribers would be contacted by the federal controllers of housing and urban development in the states as well as the chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) from Thursday for collection.”

Ogunbiyi also said applicants under the mortgage, rent to own and instalment payment modes who should be subscribers to the NHF were presently undergoing profiling.

The permanent secretary added that there were no completed houses in Abia, Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers States and the FCT.

He said the allocation of houses in the listed states would be done after the completion of the housing units later in the year.

The NHF is a federal government scheme, which entitles all Nigerians above the age of 21 years in paid employment to a low-interest, government-funded loan.

Members of the scheme contribute 2.5 percent of their monthly salary to the fund through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

The maximum amount obtainable under the NHF was N5 million but now N15 million.

The borrowed capital is repayable over a maximum of 30 years at the rate of six percent interest.