The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to pull out civil servants from the National Housing Fund’s (NHF) contributory funds over non-remittance of deductions.

The National President Comr Joe Ajaero, issued the threat when he appearing before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating Non-Remittance to the NHF and Utilisation of the Funds from 2011 till Date.

Comrade Ajaero said FBN had failed to send alerts to civil servants on how much they have been contributing including their monthly deduction.

He urged the lawmakers to take drastic steps to remove the encumbrances to affordable and quality housing to millions of Nigerians especially workers who make the most contributions to the NHF.

According to him, the immediate past Managing Director of FMBN Mr Ahmed Dangiwa who is now the Minister of Housing and Urban Development said he left behind N120 billion in the coffers of the bank.

“He said he was able to mobilise 249.1 billion to Nigeria’s housing fund, and
increased subscription to 197,000 between 2017 and 2022.

Ajaero observed that in spite of these milestones, millions of Nigerian workers who are in line with sections 4 and 10 of the Act are unable to access finance to acquire, build or renovate personal housing property.

He said the ease of reimbursement to retired workers of contributed funds even after failure to access housing loans is also cumbersome and unnerving.

He stated that while the Act provides for 90 days from the date of application for the loan to disbursement, the experience by many workers are horrific as the undue delay in approving the loans force many workers to abandon pursuit of the loan