The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (NUC), and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) on Wednesday 10th October officially launched the “National Affordable Housing Delivery Program for Nigerian Workers”.
The housing program, a product of a historic partnership between FMBN and the labor unions, aims to build and deliver decent, safe and quality housing for Nigerian workers at a price that they can afford. In line with this goal, the house types planned for construction under the program are based on proven social housing models and comprise one bedroom, two-bedrooms and three-bedroom units with prices ranging from N3.1M to N8.3M
The groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction activities took place in Nassarawa state on a five (5) hectare land along the new Kwandare, Keffi road Lafia. The land was provided by the State Government as part of its contribution to the success of the project and will house 100 housing units to be delivered within a six-month timeframe.
The Nasarawa housing site is the first of the fourteen (14) locations under the pilot phase of the program that is projected to deliver a total of 1,400 housing units nationwide. This includes 200 housing units in each of the six geopolitical zones in addition to Lagos and Abuja.
Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FMBN kicked off the groundbreaking ceremony by talking about the significance and potential impact of the project.
His words: “The launch of the National Housing Delivery Program is a momentous development because it marks the first time that FMBN and the labor unions have worked closely with experts and industry stakeholders to develop a realistic and acceptable framework for delivering affordable housing to Nigerian workers. The collaborative spirit which this program has fostered gave room for Labor leaders, who understand the realities and financial challenges that Nigerian workers face, to make constructive inputs to the housing designs, pricing range and other relevant conditions for delivering this project”
The FMBN MD/CEO stated that the stakeholder involvement and contributions to the project design makes the National Affordable Housing Delivery Program a fit-for-purpose tool that will deliver houses that workers can afford as part of the overall national efforts towards redressing the huge housing deficit that experts now estimate to be over 22million housing units.
He added that the project is a significant departure from earlier social housing projects, which failed, in part, because they were executed without taking into cognizance the concerns and economic realities of the Nigerian worker.
Also speaking at the event, the President, Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba commended the FMBN for initiating and driving the partnership. He stated that the project is laudable and will touch the lives of many Nigerians.
Comrade Ayuba commended the Governor, His Excellency, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura for acting speedily to provide the land at zero cost and said that Nassarawa state workers who will be beneficiaries of the project will be very happy and grateful.

In his speech, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, His Excellency, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura expressed delight at the takeoff of the project and thanked FMBN and the Labor unions for choosing the state as the first location for the pilot. The Governor commended FMBN for the initiative and expressed the commitment of the state government to its success.
In addition, the Nasarawa State Governor granted FMBN’s request for an additional five hectares of land for the provision of relevant facilities as well as speedy facilitation of electricity supply to the estate.
Under the terms of the program, the FMBN will provide low-interest housing loans to registered contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) to enable them to purchase the houses.
Eligible workers whose loan requirements fall below N5M will not be expected to pay any equity contribution to access the facility while those requiring N5M – N15M will have to provide only 10% equity contribution instead of the old requirement regime of 20% and 30%.
The housing loans have a convenient payment plan with tenors of up 30 years depending on the age of the beneficiaries and years in service.

By Marc Philips