Economy
Nigeria’s Mortgage Sector Constitutes 2.5% of GDP—Haman
By Ahmed Rahma
The need for the government to support the mortgage sector in Nigeria so as to expand its contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been stressed by an expert in the industry.
According to the Managing Director of Abbey Mortgage Bank, Mr Madu Haman, at the moment, the mortgage ecosystem constitutes only about 2.5 per cent of the GDP, whereas, in the United Kingdom, the contribution is about 80 per cent.
He blamed this on the government because it contributes to the difficulties faced in acquiring property in the country, noting that even in Africa, Nigeria was still lagging behind.
Speaking at the Nairametrics’ Business Half Hour, he disclosed that the mortgage sector in South Africa accounts for 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the GDP, while in Ghana, it is about 30 per cent.
He, therefore, declared that Nigeria needs to step up her game when in the mortgage sector by first addressing the problems faced when acquiring land in the country.
He said the Land Use Act contains strenuous processes investors must undergo like the process of getting the Governor’s consent, the bureaucratic process of registering the mortgage and the high cost of registration.
Mr Haman, however, noted that the government could assist in reducing some of these challenges.
According to him, the plan to address the various challenges facing the mortgage sector started as far back as 2001 when the then President, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, formed a presidential committee to review the legal framework around the mortgage sector, especially amending the Land Use Act and other issues concerning the smooth operation of the mortgage sector.
However, before the approval of such an amendment, another government took over which automatically led to starting the process all over.
Speaking further, he said they had to establish an advocacy association for the mortgage industry called the Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria and their work is to take care of these issues that the mortgage sector is facing.
He said they also have other institutions, like the Nigerian Mortgage Finance Company, which is partly owned by the participating banks and partly owned by the federal government (the Federal Ministry of Finance and CBN are also involved). The role of this institution is advocacy, i.e., trying to address the challenges facing the mortgage sector.
Also, they have been talking to state governors to see how each state can amend some of their laws to make it easier and smoother for mortgage sectors, noting that some states like Lagos and Kaduna have been very cooperative.
Additionally, he clarified the issues some Nigerians encounter when it comes to accessing NHF loans.
He said the Federal Mortgage Bank is a custodian of the National Housing Fund, so for a contributor to be able to access facilities from the National Housing Fund, they must approach a primary mortgage bank which then processes their request and forwards it to the Federal Mortgage Bank for approval.
He added that before NHF can give out a loan, it will have to check out the following, the property involved, does it have a proper title? What is the applicant’s source of income? Would he be able to meet the repayment of the loan?
All these processes are done at the primary mortgage bank-level before being forwarded to the Federal Mortgage Bank for approval, and then the Federal Mortgage Bank also goes through its own process of checking.
With all these processes, one might look at the loan request as a difficult one, however, the rate at which clients get the facilities is only 6 per cent which is the lowest in the Nigerian market right now.
Abbey Mortgage Bank, according to Mr Haman, is in partnership with private sector providers, most of whom are real estate developers who provide the houses for them to grant mortgages on.
He noted that the partnership is with credible developers, who have the type of houses that meet the requirement of customers, adding that the bank was also in partnership with notable cooperatives, whose members want to access housing finance.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units exchanged for N524.9 million.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn