What had become of Abuja Federal Housing Scheme Policy

I first moved to the city of Abuja in 2002. My first impressions when I secured a job back then was that it would be easy to get an accommodation.  My contact there keep assuring me how difficult it was then to get an accommodation and promised me that on my arrival, I would see things for myself.  Not only was there scarcity of accommodation, they were damn expensive. I remembered I rented a make shift self contained room for 50k in 2002 and I was forced to pay for 2 years.

But the Federal Capital put in place an housing scheme back then that will make accommodation available to all those working in the city. The policy was for the Federal Housing Authority to parner with private developers to build houses in a form of estates and sell same to the residents through NHF (National Housing Fund) mortgages institutions.  The idea was that all employers are to register their employees in one of the mortgages institutions with a mandatory contributions, and thereafter this will allow employees to acquire one of these houses paying upfront 15% of the total cost of the houses and paid the rest in 30 years through the mortgages institutions. What a laudable policy that would have sweep under the carpet the problem of accommodation in Abuja.

The programme took off well, the developers started building the houses in a form of estates. Such Developers like Prince and Princeses, Efab Properties, Sunnyvale, Suncity, Kabusa, Citec etc were into the project and they made available some of these estates.  But as times goes on, they started derailing. First by selling the available houses to those who are ready to make payment immediately or in few installments instead of 15 percent initial payment and the rest in 30 years through the mortgage institutions.  Then as time goes by, they started selling at exhorbitant prices, then to those who pay upfront even when the building isnt ready and then selling uncompleted houses, then selling developed lands at exhorbitant prices and finally selling undeveloped lands at staggering prices.  All these while, the FCDA nor the FHA see nothing in what these Developers are doing.  It is that bad that at the moment, once a land is sold to you, they will give you an allocation letter that you bought a house to the tune of say about 22 Million, whereas the true position of things was that, you bought a land for around 7 Million naira. This is fraud, and it speak bad of good and lofty government ideas.

I had always said this that, what the people contributed to Government failures are far too much than what government are going to take the blame.  Most times, when Government come with a laudable effort in a form of policy, we Nigerians always find a way around it to defeat the real purpose it was first put in place.

Ever pause to ponder that though the people are the government, no wonder, those put in charge by the people are doing exactly what the people wants. What a shame!!!

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When I had to pay 8,500 for 6 month Statement of Account

The CBN needs to do a lot more in regulating our banks.  There are a lot of hidden charges that had become rampant.  For instance if you are an habitual ATM users like me, you will discover that Banks now has two balances, one is ledger balance and the other is available balance. Most times if a lot of money pass through your account, your ledger balance is higher than your available balance, and at the end of the month, like my bank does, the differences between the ledger balance and the available balance disappear with no sms informing you that your account is debited.  The only sms I always receive is COT and VAT for such ledger balance disappearance.

That is just by the way.  I needed my 6 month statement of Account from my bank (Name Withheld) . When I applied as I used to do, this time around, they did not honour my request telling me the balance in my account wont accommodate the charges for the printing of the statement of the Account.  It was then dawn on me that all along, they had been debiting me each time I ask for statement of Account.  But on this particular occasion, the fact that my account wasnt funded made me know.  When I inquired how come I am going to pay 8,500 for just printing of statement of Account, I was made to understand that, there are lots of transactions in my account and that each page cost 250 naira only.  A quick mathematics gives me the idea that for 6 months statement of account, I was able to amassed 34 pages.  It then further dawn on me that withdrawing from the ATM which in some occasions might be 5 times in a day accounted for the heavy transactions which I am paying dearly for now.

Isnt it the practice of Banks that they should be sending customers their Statement of Accounts every month? Had they been sending it to me, would I not just compile the backlog of 6 months and make use of it?  I dont seem to get it.  Not sending the statement of Account is actually a deliberate action so that when a customer needs one, they can get more revenue from the transactions.

Then, how come printing just statement attracts 250 Naira? Why not a one time payment, why must it be 250 naira per sheet?  Are they discouraging the use of ATM, using of current account?  I am lost.

The Central Bank of Nigeria should do something.  There are lots of Nigerians who are not learned enough to be conversant with the corny practice of these Banks.

All said and done, ever paused to ponder whether I actually paid that sum to obtain the Statement of Account? Your guess is as good as mine!! I did exactly as what you can do in this situation, yes, just as you would do.

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