Contributors to the Nationwide Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme in North-West have demanded that the federal authorities ease the situations for securing housing loans.
The federal authorities launched the NHF scheme to allow contributors, largely civil servants, to safe versatile loans to construct their very own homes.
Chatting with journalists in Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and Katsina states, stakeholders advocated a whole assessment of the scheme to serve the aim for which it was initiated or, within the different, scrap it fully.
They argued that not solely was the method of securing loans too cumbersome, however the necessities had been additionally hardly met by a majority of civil servants, thereby defeating the laudable aims of the scheme.
“All of the years I spent within the Federal Civil Service, I couldn’t safe a home regardless of all of the contributions I produced from my wage,” Aliyu Musa, a retired federal civil servant in Gusau, advised journalists.
One other contributor in Gusau, Abubakar Usman, lamented that securing entry to NHF services was all the time a herculean job and due to this fact referred to as on the federal authorities to restructure the scheme to make issues simple.
A widow in Gusau, Maryam Adeniyi, additionally made comparable name, recollecting how her late husband who was a contributor couldn’t entry the housing mortgage regardless of a number of efforts.
Musa Lemu, a retired federal civil servant in Sokoto, lamented that securing a mortgage was tedious, thereby depriving the scheme of the benefits derivable from its implementation.
Adamu Suleiman, a employees of the Federal Ministry of Info, Sokoto, stated he obtained alerts on deductions relating to his NHF financial savings in peace-meal.
He stated when he approached the Sokoto workplace of Mortgage Financial institution for a housing mortgage, he was advised that solely the financial institution headquarters may course of the identical.
“Shortage of the appliance varieties, superfluous and discouraging necessities and processes are points that should be addressed for the Scheme to document most success; there’s a want for fixed sensitisation on how the system operates,” Usman Shehu of the Nigeria Tv Authority (NTA), Birnin Kebbi, stated.
In his contribution, Hamisu Abubakar of the Nationwide Orientation Company (NOA), Birnin Kebbi, noticed that civil servants benefiting from the scheme had been negligible and due to this fact referred to as for its scrapping.
“So far as I’m involved, the scheme is a failure; some individuals are utilizing the funds for his or her advantages on the expense of Nigerian employees; the scheme needs to be scrapped”, he insisted.
Arguing alongside the identical line, Mohammed Iliyasu of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Birnin Kebbi, alleged that the scheme was bedevilled by insincerity and corruption, simply as he acknowledged that the motive for initiating it, was laudable.
Yusuf Abdulkarim of the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Funding, Katsina workplace, stated the scheme was not residing as much as the contributors’ expectations.
On her half, Uwani Rabe suggested the federal authorities to fine-tune the scheme to have the specified impression, simply as she additionally famous that situations for securing loans had been stringent.
Additionally, one other respondent in Katsina, Ibrahim Danlagos, steered that participation within the scheme be made elective.
“Participation shouldn’t be made obligatory for civil servants, somewhat, it needs to be elective; the best way it’s now, its like employees are being coerced to contribute, which shouldn’t be so”, he stated.
Some residents of Kaduna additionally decried the dearth of easy accessibility to mortgage services of NHF, saying the process concerned in securing similar was cumbersome.
Larai Usman, a civil servant, stated she stuffed a housing mortgage kind from NHF two years in the past, however was but to get any constructive response.
Danjuma Jato, a instructor in Kaduna, stated the necessities for securing the services had been somewhat stringent, saying his software was rejected as a result of he was nonetheless servicing a mortgage from a business financial institution.
Additionally, Rose Ishaku, an entrepreneur, urged the federal authorities to assessment the situations for securing the mortgage to allow eligible Nigerians profit from the scheme.
On his half, Felix Ayina, a civil servant in Kaduna, stated though he had been contributing to the Fund, his wage was too meagre to fulfill household wants. As such, securing any mortgage could be a further burden on him.
Making the identical enchantment, some civil servants in Kano state urged the federal authorities to restructure the scheme to cut back the forms in accessing housing loans.
(NAN)
