The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to pull out civil servants from the National Housing Funds (NHF) scheme due non-remittance of deductions made.
Its President, Joe Ajaero stated this on Wednesday at the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Non-Remittance to the NHF and utilisation of the Funds from 2011 till Date.
Ajaero said the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) had failed to send alerts to civil servants how much they have been contributing including their monthly deduction.
His words: “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.”
He said in spite of this milestone, 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.
The NLC President also decried the ease of reimbursement to retired workers of contributed funds even after failure to access housing loans is also cumbersome and unnerving.
Ajaero noted that in spite making the statutory contributions of 2.5 per cent of annual salary to the NHF, many workers were unable to access the loan due mainly to administrative bottlenecks.
Ajaero, therefore, 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.