N18.9bn delinquent loans so far recovered – FMBN MD
Omeiza Bilal
Over N18.9 billion of delinquent loans have been recovered across the country, Shehu Usman Osidi, Managing Director/Chief Executive of Federal Mortgage Bank Of Nigeria (FMBN), has said.
The FMBN Managing Director, who disclosed this during his welcome address at the 2025 Africa International Housing Show (AIHS) recently in Abuja, said the committee tasked with the job of recovering the Bank’s delinquent loans was making significant progress.
He said, “At the FMBN Day last year, we announced the constitution of 7 Recovery Task Teams to recover delinquent loans across the country’s geo-political zones. By the end of 2024, the teams had raked in over N10.9 billion in bad loans. This was in addition to our normal recovery activities which also yielded the sum N3.1b in the same year. The recovery from the Teams is currently at over N18.9bn.
“We have also improved our loan approvals significantly with a total sum of N71.5b approved under our loan operations in the past year compared to N39.7b in 2023.”
Speaking on the theme: “Re-imagining Housing Finance: Opportunities and Lessons
for FMBN”, Osidi said revealed that FMBN has improved its financial performance leading to an operating surplus of N11.5 billion in 2024.
“Our financial performance has also improved. In 2024, as outlined in our Management Accounts, the Bank made an operational surplus of N11.5 billion, the first time we have had such achievement in over 30 years since FMBN came into existence. With prudent management and growing operations, we are on track for another surplus in 2025. This is proof that our policies are yielding results, and the Bank is on the right track,” Osidi stated.
The FMBN helmsman said that its capital base continues to be a drawback to the effective performance of its mandate.
According to him, FMBN’s current paid-up capital of ₦2.5 billion is wholly inadequate for the size of its mandate. He noted that the figure, unchanged for decades, stands in sharp contrast to what is obtainable in similar institutions globally and even among commercial mortgage lenders in Nigeria.
The FMBN boss insisted that the situation severely undermines the Bank’s ability to mobilize long-term finance from local and international markets/sources; underwrite and finance large-scale housing construction; expand mortgage coverage to more Nigerians; and deliver the mission of actualising access to affordable housing.
“The FMBN capital is nothing compared to that of similar housing finance institutions around the world including India’s National Housing Bank (NHB), Housing Development Board (HDB) in Singapore, Treasury Housing Loan Division (THLD) in Malaysia, FOVISSSTE and INFONAVIT in Mexico. Each of these institutions has a capital base exceeding ₦250 billion, powering their ability to refinance hundreds of thousands of mortgages annually.
“Here at home in Nigeria, even Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs), which operate at a much smaller scale than FMBN, have higher capital bases.
it is to be noted that CBN’s minimum capital requirements for wholesale and retail Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are N100 billion and N10 billion respectively; while state and national primary mortgage banks (which are expected to rely on FMBN for funding) currently have minimum capital bases of N2.5 billion and N5 billion respectively.
On the Renewed Hope Housing and Estates program across Nigeria, he said that the projects are currently ongoing in Abuja, Kano, Lagos and other locations across the country.
“Further to this, we have also extended additional funding facility of N19.9bn for the Karsana project in Abuja. This is apart from our funding of Renewed Hope City, Ibeju Lekki Lagos to the tune of N27bn to deliver 1,500 units of 2- & 3-bedroom apartments,” he added.
