July 29th, 2019, 3:00 pm, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria
The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (“NMRC”) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (“GIZ”) GmbH signed an agreement on the side-lines of the 13th Abuja International Housing Show. The agreement embodies both institutions strategic mandate to deepen the affordable housing segment in Nigeria. NMRC’s Managing Director noted during the signing ceremony that the ongoing collaboration with GIZ includes joint activities in the affordable housing value chain that would be focused on synergistically using both institutions capacities and expertise to bring about access to finance while also driving the creation of an economy around affordable housing in target locations across Nigeria.
GIZ’s Cluster Coordinator for Sustainable economic Development, Hans Ludwig Bruns in his remarks at the event also noted that GIZ and NMRC both recognise the great potential to join forces and leverage synergies for the benefit of the affordable housing sector in the GIZ-SEDIN focal states: Ogun, Plateau and Niger states. Nigeria’s housing market consists of two major divides that continue to influence the dynamics of demand and supply as well as affordability. The premium end is oversupplied with few off-takers while the lower end which is responsible for the growing deficit and housing demand is faced with an undersupply.
The strategic collaboration between GIZ-SEDIN and NMRC is in furtherance of the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the housing crisis in Nigeria, through collaboration with the World Bank and International cooperation institutions like GIZ. This engagement also falls under the primary mandate of the NMRC to structurally address the current challenges with regards to financial innovations required to develop affordable housing in Nigeria from a private sector perspective by acting as a conduit between the capital markets and housing markets. NMRC as the nation’s leading provider of mortgage refinance in collaboration with GIZ will seek to promote housing accessibility through financial innovation as well as foreclosure mechanisms that facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for mortgages and investments in the housing sector of the target states.
GIZ-SEDIN and NMRC’s collaboration will also facilitate housing development and growth by obtaining credible data from the participating states. The data component of the collaboration will help to identify gaps, specific constraints and analyse needs in affordable housing demand and supply that forms the basis for an agreed upon viable-partnership-driven-roadmap. The parties will jointly explore and coordinate training and capacity building activities of mutual interest, which will be implemented by separate agreements in mutual understanding and in conformity with the regulations and policies of both parties.
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About NMRC
NMRC is a is a CBN-licensed mortgage liquidity facility with the core mandate of developing the primary and secondary mortgage markets. NMRC raises long-term funds from the capital market for mortgage refinancing and by extension promotes affordable housing development and home ownership in Nigeria. NMRC was incorporated on 24th June 2013 and obtained its final license to operate as a non-deposit taking financial institution from the CBN on 18th February 2015.
About GIZ
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is an agency owned by the German Federal Government that implements technical cooperation projects on behalf of the German Government and other development partners. Based on the bilateral agreement between the Nigerian and German governments (the “Governments”) of 1974, GIZ has been operating in Nigeria since 1974. Following an agreement between the Governments, GIZ’s activities in Nigeria since 2002 have focused on sustainable economic development programmes.
