From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives has said it will review the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act, in line with current realities in the country.
The speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, stated this, on Wednesday, while declaring an investigative hearing organised by House Ad-hoc Committee on the investigation of non-remittance of contributions to National Housing Fund ( NHF) and utilization of the fund from 2011 to date.
Abbas, who was represented by the deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu, stated that the NHF represents a commitment by the government to address the housing needs of the citizens. However, the speaker noted that NHF Act, which was enacted in 1992 has become obsolete.
According to him, “this scheme which was designed to ensure that Nigerians have access to affordable housing mandates all employers – in both the private and public sectors – to contribute 2.5% of their workers’ monthly earnings into this Fund. As you are aware, offending sections 20 and 21 of this Act has convicts liable to both fine and imprisonment.
“The House will look into this law which is obsolete now. From 1992 till date calls for a review. There are other issues that the House will inject to make it fit for purpose.
“As a noble initiative rooted in the principles of collective responsibility,
the scheme identifies the critical need to ensure access to affordable housing by hard-working Nigerians, in order to bridge the housing deficit gap in the country.”
Abbas added that for the scheme to achieve its objective, the Fund must be managed transparently and in strick compliance to extant laws.
“The House was therefore alarmed to receive allegations of non-remittance by employers and in other cases, mismanagement and misappropriation of the hard-earned salaries of Nigerian workers, by the administering institution.
” It is within this context that we convene to investigate the alleged non remittance to the National Fund and critically review the utilization of the Fund from 2011 to date.. . Our mission is not only to uncover any irregularities but also to propose solutions that will strengthen
the NHF and ensure it serves its intended purpose, while also preventing a reoccurrence of these issues, ” he stated.
The chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Dachung Bagos, in his opening speech, explained that the investigative hearing is geared to get the input of stakeholders, on issues relating to the NHF.
Bagos said ” This hearing is to get needed inputs from relevant stakeholders on the issue at hand and to ensure that the challenges faced by Nigerian workers in the housing sector is reduced to its barest minimum if possible completely solved. “