The federal authorities has launched the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria’s (FMBN) non-interest mortgage product, Ijarah Muntahia Bittamleek Lease-to-Own, in Kano, pledging that no Nigerian ought to have to decide on between homeownership and deeply held monetary convictions.
The product was formally launched on Tuesday by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Muttaqhah Darma, alongside the Managing Director of FMBN, Shehu Osidi.
Under the association, an eligible Nigerian occupies a house by a lease settlement, makes agreed rental funds over an outlined interval and turns into the proprietor on the finish of the time period.
Both audio system described the product as asset-backed, clear, regulated and open to each eligible contributor to the National Housing Fund (NHF), irrespective of faith.
Darma stated greater than six million Nigerians contribute to the NHF, but FMBN has traditionally booked fewer than 500 particular person mortgages yearly, with many contributors staying away from interest-bearing loans.
“Those Nigerians have contributed and they have aspirations. From today they have a credible pathway,” he stated.
The launch marks the primary public product beneath the National Mortgage Industry Policy issued in July 2026. The coverage directs FMBN to disburse at the very least 40 per cent of every 12 months’s NHF collections as mortgages, increase its mortgage ceiling from N50 million to N85 million, resolve functions inside 30 working days by an eight-document course of, guide 2,000 mortgages this 12 months and 5,000 yearly by 2028, and publish mortgage information quarterly.
The FMBN Managing Director stated the initiative was not designed for one non secular neighborhood or one a part of the nation, however supplied a further possibility compliant with moral finance rules. He cited world Islamic finance belongings of $5.98 trillion in 2024 and Nigeria’s Islamic finance business, valued at over N4.4 trillion in 2024, up from N2.5 trillion in 2023, as proof of a considerable alternative to deepen inclusion in housing finance.
Both leaders stated Kano was intentionally chosen because the industrial coronary heart of northern Nigeria, with robust demand for reasonably priced housing and moral finance, however careworn that it was solely the start line.
The product might be rolled out to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Abuja and different cities. Meanwhile, NHF membership is focused to develop from six million to 10 million by 2028 by commerce unions, cooperatives, employers and a brand new diaspora window that can settle for foreign-currency contributions.
To show its dedication to supply, FMBN has designated its housing venture in Bichi, Kano State, developed by AYAB Nig. Ltd., for pilot implementation. Keys might be handed over to the primary beneficiaries instantly after the launch ceremony in Bichi.
On shopper safety, Darma introduced a Mortgage Consumer Charter that can spell out what each buyer pays and the way possession is attained, in addition to the position of the Office of the Mortgage Industry Regulatory.
He additional defined that the federal government, along with 19 states and eight skilled our bodies, had validated a nationwide housing deficit of 15 million models. He stated a proposal had been submitted to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to convey all federal housing, mortgage and associated establishments beneath one ministry.
The proposal is meant to make sure that NHF collections, Mortgage Refinance and Investment Fund (MREIF) refinancing, Federal Housing Authority building and Family Homes Funds investments function as a coordinated supply system to finance houses beneath the Tinubu Mass Social Housing Scheme in each native authorities space (LGA).
Ahmad Sorondinki
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