The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Muttaqha Rabe-Darma, disclosed this on Thursday at the 15th National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development in Sokoto.
He said the government was targeting 2,000 mortgages in 2026, with the figure expected to rise to 5,000 by 2028.
“The Federal Government is targeting 5,000 mortgages by 2028 and proposing to increase the maximum mortgage loan from N50 million to N85 million to improve access to homeownership,” he said.
Rabe-Darma said the government had directed the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to increase mortgage disbursements, targeting the annual disbursement of at least 70 percent of the previous year’s National Housing Fund (NHF) contributions through mortgages.
According to him, the initiative is designed to bridge the gap between workers’ contributions to the NHF and access to housing finance.
The minister also said the government was targeting the allocation of between 30 and 40 percent of mortgage bookings to workers in the informal sector.
He explained that many informal-sector workers faced difficulties accessing formal housing finance because of irregular incomes and limited access to conventional lending arrangements.
Rabe-Darma said the proposed reforms would strengthen the housing finance system and ensure that more Nigerian workers benefited from their NHF contributions.
He added that the Federal Government planned to establish a National Housing Finance Authority to improve regulation, strengthen accountability and expand access to affordable mortgages.
According to him, the proposed authority would provide a coordinated regulatory framework and improve the overall performance of Nigeria’s housing finance sector.
The minister also highlighted the recently launched Diaspora Mortgage Program, which he said would enable Nigerians living abroad to invest in homeownership in the country.
He stressed that improving access to housing finance was crucial to addressing Nigeria’s housing deficit, noting that the government was working towards constructing 100 housing units in each of the country’s 774 local government areas.
Rabe-Darma said sustainable housing delivery required more than building houses, emphasizing the need for a functional mortgage system that would enable citizens to acquire them.
Citing Rwanda’s experience in expanding its mortgage market through institutional reforms and refinancing mechanisms, he said Nigeria could learn from countries that had taken deliberate steps to improve access to housing finance.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to reforms that would make housing finance more accessible to low- and middle-income earners, particularly workers in the informal sector.
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The minister urged relevant institutions and stakeholders to support the reforms, stressing that transparency, accountability and effective implementation would be critical to achieving the government’s housing objectives.
In his remarks, Gov. Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State said housing went beyond providing shelter, describing it as a means of promoting human dignity, security, family stability and hope for the future.
Aliyu highlighted some of the state’s housing initiatives, including the 500-unit Sokoto New City Housing
