The Executive Secretary of Federal Government Housing Loans Board( FGSHLB), Dr (Mrs) Hannatu Adamu –Fika has said that more than twenty thousand public Servants have so far benefitted from the various categories of soft loans available under the scheme, to enable Public servants buy, build or renovate their own houses since the Board was established in 1974.
Dr Fika announced this recently in Abuja while addressing Directors from various MDAs at the fifth in the series of the monthly BPSR Lunch Time Reform Seminar Series tagged: “Opportunities for Civil Servants to Own Their Own Homes”, further said that the loans board was charged with responsibility of providing housing loan facilities to public servants in the employment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to enable them own Houses for their use and members of their families while in service and retirement.
The Executive Secretary explained to participants at the seminar that the board had embarked on a number of initiatives to enable public servants own their houses and this include entering into partnership with Federal Government Housing Agencies such as Federal Housing Authority, Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Military and the Para Military Post Service Housing Schemes by granting bulk loans to enable them construct houses for allocation to public servants in their employment.
She said that this partnership had made it possible for many public servants to own houses in estates in Lagos State, Owerri in Imo State, Gwagwalada, Kurudu ,Kubwa and Kuje, all in the FCT.
Speaking further on the efforts of the board to expand the scope of opportunities for Public Servants to own houses, Mrs Fika said the Board also partners with reputable estate developers identified by Public Servants themselves under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the construction of affordable houses for the beneficiaries of the housing loan scheme., adding that under this arrangement eight housing estates have been constructed with over one thousand public servants owning their homes in Abuja alone.
Speaking earlier in his opening address, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR), Dr Joe Abah said that housing is one of the three basic needs of mankind and most important for physical survival of man after provision of food, adding that adequate housing thus contributes to the attainment of physical and moral stability of a nation and stimulates social stability, work efficiency and the development of individual.
The Director General however described the state of housing in the country, particularly as it concerns Civil Servants as that of crisis situation, manifesting and expressing itself in quantitative and qualitative forms.
He lauded the efforts of the Federal Government for embarking on a number of key initiatives to combat the housing problems in the country. While agreeing that the problem of housing in the country was far from being solved, Dr Abah commended the Federal Government for the establishment of Housing Loans Board to provide Public servants with soft loans to purchase build or renovate their personal houses for peaceful pre retirement life.
Dr. Abah concluded by reminding participants that the seminar was organized to provide a platform and opportunity for closer examination of issues of the Staff Housing Loans Board and to generate ideas and suggestions on how Public Servants can access loans with ease.