By Akhigbe Dominic.M. Esq.
TUE, FEBRUARY 7 2017-Sometimes in the past, we wrote extensively about the National Housing Funds scheme, NHF for short. This was to gravitate Contributors’ knowledge towards the immense benefits inherent in the Scheme
The National Housing Funds scheme was set up as an interventionist Endeavour to mitigate the scorching Housing Deficit mostly among medium and low income earners who desire personal homes ownership. This scheme is for both the civil servants and those with structured income. It is not an exclusive reserve for the Civil servants only. You can actually enroll yourself in the scheme for as long as you earn income either as a private business person or a structured income person.
I have decided to revisit this topic in response to the series of enquiries and questions that were thrown at me by my various readers both on this platform and elsewhere as a follow-up to the last three editions. The general conclusions I could reasonably draw up is the fact that people are largely uninformed about the workings of the National Housing Funds scheme. In view of such high level of unawareness, there are a lot of misconceptions about the scheme. Very unfortunately, the Managers of the scheme themselves do very little to change this tide. They do very little about public awareness, education and public information. As we are used to on this platform, we would do a lot within the purview of our legal allowance to respond to some of these enquiries and make effort to attend to some of the questions with a view to creating better awareness on the National Housing Funds activities.
- What is the National Housing Fund scheme?
The National Housing Funds scheme is a pull of Contributive Scheme that allows an employee of the government at any level, the organized private sector employee or the private income person to monthly set aside a fraction of his earning; usually less than five percent of his monthly net income towards the assessment of the National Housing Loan at a future date..
- Who contributes to the National Housing Fund scheme?
The National Housing Funds scheme is contributed to by medium and low income earners employed by the government at all levels, corporate organizations employees and private income people who so desire to access the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria’s Loan at a stage in their lives. As against the erroneous belief by a large section of the public; the scheme is not for government employees only.
- How much should I contribute monthly into the Scheme?
The monthly contribution is in the neighborhood of 2 percent of your income. It is certainly less than 5 percent of your income. Any employer taking more than the statutory amount from an employee’s income in the name of the National Housing Funds scheme is committing a crime. I strongly advise those who have severally complained of paying up to 5 percent monthly as NHF Contribution to request for proof of remittance from their employers.
- Is there a proof of remittance I should have?
Yes! Every contributor to the National Housing Funds scheme is entitled to a Passbook. This Passbook is expected to be in custody of the contributor. However, for the purpose of administrative convenience, some Agencies, (mostly large agencies) keep such passbooks in trust for the employees. This should however be at the permission of such employees who should be allowed unrestricted access to such on demand. The NHF Contribution Passbook contains the contributor’s information such as name, address, amount contributed and other specific details.
….to be continued
Akhigbe Dominic.M. Esq., /Property Law Expert/CEO, H.I.E Properties & Homes Ltd/SENIOR STRATEGIC PARTNER, PropertyLogic Incorporated/Seasoned Business Coach/Columnist of The BusinessDay/Contributing Editor,govandbusinessjournal.com.ng <https://govandbusinessjournal.ng>*
