By Bimbola Oyesola, [email protected]
The management of National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) holders in Nigeria are now eligible to acquire their own home with 25 per cent of their pension.
According to PenCom, this is based on the new mortgage policy.
Nigeria housing deficit reports show grew from seven million in 1991 to 28 million in 2023, leading to overcrowded and obsolete housing infrastructure.
PenCom at a workshop in Lagos last Thursday explained that in 2014, the Personal Retirement Account (PRA) was amended to allow contributors access 25 per cent of their RSA balance as down payment for mortgage.
The organization lamented that Nigeria has one of the lowest home ownership rates in the world estimated at 9 per cent of the population.
“There are no standard/National home ownership model in Nigeria like Singapore, USA etc,” PenCom said at the workshop.
PenCom however said it has decided to expand its horizon to make retirement enjoyable for pensioners through inclusion of housing mortgage.
Noting that retirement is not the end of the road, but the starting of a whole new kind of life ahead that is full of experiences that are waiting to happen, the Director General, PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar said an arm that would create more conducive atmosphere for pensioners have been created
Describing Nigeria as a country with lowest home ownership rates which stands as 99 per cent of the country’s population when compared to global practice, the DG assured that with every worker that has three years to retirement or as married couples can apply for the housing mortgage, hence the gap would be filled.
This is just as she announced that PenCom has approved 34 primary mortgage banks through which Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders can access residential mortgage.
The DG who was represented by the Head of Communications, Quadri Abdul Dabir, called on Federal Government to come out with more affordable housing programme that would make everyone house owner.
She blamed the down payment, price instability, high interest rates and corruption for the huge housing deficit in the country.
Out of the 34 mortgage banks, 19 are in Lagos, seven in Abuja, two in Akwa-Ibom, and the rest in other parts of the country.
The banks are Abbey Mortgage Bank PLC, AG Mortgage Bank PLC, Aso Savings and Loans PLC, Brent Mortgage Bank, Centage Savings and Loans, City Code Savings, Coop Savings and Loans, Delta Trust Mortgage Bank, First Trust Mortgage and FHA Homes Limited.
Others are First Generation Homes, Gateway Mortgage Bank, Global Trust Mortgage, Haggai Mortgage Bank, Imperial Homes, Infinity Trust and Jigawa Savings and Loans Ltd, among others.
On the guidelines, PenCom explained that anyone with RSA or Micro Pension Plan (MPP) is eligible for the mortgage provided they are in active employment or self employed.
It noted that the hurdle may be that contributors who joined before July 1, 2019 must have their record updated through the data recapture program.
Meanwhile the procedure for a mortgage with the operators include getting a confirmation of eligibility from individual Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), accessing a letter from the property developer, approach the bank, while the approved application would be sent to the PFA from the bank and other things would be finalised.
