The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has announced that a mortgage housing scheme for Nigerians in the diaspora will be launched in February 2024.
He expressed the Ministry’s willingness to support diaspora initiatives in the Housing and Urban Development space through the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission for National Development.
The Minister stated this when he received the Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and some management staff in his office in Abuja.
He noted that at the recently concluded 6th Edition of the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit, (NDIS), he launched the FMBN Diaspora Mortgage Scheme which was initiated and developed along with NiDCOM when he was the Managing Director of FMBN.
Gabriel Odu, a spokesman of NIDCOM, in a statement on Wednesday, quoted the Minister as saying, “The overall goal is to ensure that as our brothers and sisters sojourn abroad, they also have a decent shelter over here in Nigeria to call their home”.
Dangiwa added that the Federal Housing Authority is also committed to delivering on their tripartite mandate of a Diaspora City Project in partnership with NIDCOM, FHA and FCT. The project is situated at Maitama 2, with over 675 hectares of land.
Earlier, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, speaking on the 4Ds of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agenda of Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora, said the Minister will kick off the official details and unveiling of the Diaspora Mortgage scheme in the Diaspora itself starting in the UK, USA and Canada.
The NIDCOM Boss, commended the Minister for his commitment, saying Nigerians in Diaspora were enthusiastic about both the Diaspora mortgage scheme and the upcoming Diaspora smart city in Abuja.
There are about 20 million Nigerians in the Diaspora and remitting an average of over 24 billion dollars annually to shore up the Nigerian economy.
