Yesterday, on February 3rd, 2014, 1pm at the Banquet Hall, Lagos House, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), flagged off the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS), a delivery of an alleged tall promise he made on behalf of his Party during his electioneering campaign, and also another one of the four sectors (Power, Agriculture, Transportation and Housing - PATH) he committed to addressing only 2 years ago.
The Lagos HOMS, will allow Lagosians, particularly the ordinary middle class and working people, a fair and transparent opportunity to own a home and pay for it over a period of not less than 10 years under a mortgage scheme.
In the speech of His Excellency, he said, "For many years, our people have had to acquire houses; often times being required to pay cash once and for all, as if they were buying a shirt or a pair of shoes in a shop. This approach in part, explains the reason why a large number of ordinary middle class and working people cannot afford to acquire homes on the basis of their legitimate income derived from hard work that rewards the dignity of their labour.
In Lagos State, we have taken the view that a home is not something you buy in one day but over time, in a way that your ability to acquire it is tied to your income and continued prosperity. Our view of a home is that is it something you pay for gradually and it is a place of safety, well built, safe and sound, to protect you and your family from the hazards of nature such as rain and heat; a place that will not flood or suddenly collapse. An asset that outlives you."
At the occasion of the official launch of the Lagos HOMS, a total of 1,104 units of completed homes were flagged off, with another 3,156 units announced at their various construction stages. In more detail, the scheme will start off with: 132 units in Iponri, 720 units in Ibeshe Ikorodu, 420 units in Ajara Badagry, 648 units in Sangotedo Phase II, 216 units in Obele, 36 units in Akerele Phase II, 48 units in Oyingbo, 1254 units in Ilubirin and 1080 units in Ijora Badia.
In the speech of the Excellency, he reiterated the role of the Ministry of Housing, which is to facilitate the private sector housing development, enforce housing regulations, lead research into system building and cost saving initiatives that will in turn increase the affordability of homes and speed up construction. In addition, as we all remember the Landlord and Tenant Bill Fashola signed into law, which 'forbids' landlord from demanding outrageous multiple year advance payments from tenants, the Governor, yesterday at the launch stressed that indeed that was the beginning of a better housing and regulations plan for Lagos State. In juxtaposition, he said while the Tenancy Law represents moral intervention to protect citizens who earn monthly income from landlords who demand multiple year advancements, the Lagos HOMS represents a leadership by example intervention to increase the stock of affordable and accessible housing on convenient payment terms.
Indeed the Lagos HOMS is birthed on the policy of affordability and accessibility, it is also important to note and commend the financial measures, discipline and project management ethos applied in this project as a whole; Lagos State Government has had no course to result to borrowing of money to fund any of these housing units. The project however, have been fully funded from the purse of monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), that is, the taxes of the well meaning and diligent tax paying people - the dutiful citizens of the country. It is however, no surprise that such persons are first rewarded as the first beneficiaries of this home owning opportunity, having actively supported the government, participated and contributed to solving a problem of housing, and hopefully, birthed a sustainable new home ownership culture and work ethics that secures the future through hard work, diligence and dutiful delivery of ones responsibilities as citizens.
How are the homes given away?
As the number of homes completed increases, and sustainability is guaranteed, more number of homes will be given away more frequently to successful applicants. But, in the first instances, Lagos State Government will be allotting 200 homes every month in a publicly held draw. The first draw is on March 4th, 2014.
So, how does one qualify to owning one of these homes? The basic qualification criteria/requirements are in two folds really:
A. You must be a first time home owner or home buyer - What this means is that you must never have owned a home whether acquired privately or bought off from government
B. You must be a tax payer, showing proof of payment of tax for a continuous period of 5 years preceding your application.
Having checked A and B above, here are the 5 easy steps to owning your own home:
1. APPLICATION & SUBMISSION
You complete the Application form in accordance with the instructions, pay the prescribed processing fee of N10,000.00 (Ten Thousand Naira) and submit your form with copies of required documents. The Application form can be submitted online or in person. Originals of supporting documents will only be required for sighting if you are successful a the Draw.
2. PRE-QUALIFICATION
The Lagos Mortgage Board (LMB) processes your application form for pre-qualification and if you meet the requirements, you will be entered in the Draw.
3. DRAWS
LMB enters you for the Draws which are conducted periodically on announced dates, through a transparent, fair and well-publicised process.
4. POST-DRAW PROCESSING
LMB forwards names of successful Draw applicants to the Lagos Building Investment Company [LBIC] for mortgage processing. When you receive an Offer Letter from LBIC, you should confirm acceptance and comply with conditions ste out, including payment of an initial deposit of 30% of the purchase price to LBIC within the period stipulated in the Offer Letter.
5. CLOSING
The Contract of Sale and Deed of Mortgage are executed (signed) by you and the LMB/LBIC and the keys to your home are delivered to you.
EASY OR NOT?!
With regard the transparency of the draws and the application process as many Nigerians are by default wary about, especially because of what is allegedly deemed as practice in government, the Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola did address this genuine fears of concerned citizens like you and me in his speech. "...We are not unaware of the dismissive conclusion of the cynics that we have pre-sold the houses to ourselves. We have listened to all well intentioned concerns and our response is that we intend to make the process transparent, subject to the rules I have stated and the luck of the applicants at the monthly ballot"
So! over to you dear potential home-owner, you will need to go and wash your head of bad luck as this is in fact the only problem you might have with this process. (pun intended)
In the Governor's closing remarks, he stated that it is expected of people to take their jobs more seriously, apply themselves more diligently in order to partake of the mortgage schemes and become better citizens.
Well done to our working Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola!
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| His Excellency, Governor of Lagos State - Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) |
Should you like to own a home and be a part of this wonderful opportunity, having checked that you are eligible based on the basic criteria aforementioned, Lagos State Government has opened a fully functional website, www.lagosHOMS.gov.ng where you can do the following:
- Download the application form
- Download the full application pack
- Apply Online
- Search for properties, floor plan and prices
- Calculate your mortgage payments
- Track your application
- View pictures and watch some videos
- Information sheet, FAQs, Draw rules, Eligibility Criteria and Latest news.
So, if you are interested, hurry to the website and apply within the next few days as the first from a monthly of 200 units of homes will be made available following from a publicly held draw on the 4th of March, 2014.
Good luck!
Nice, good news.
ReplyDeleteD whole idea made sense up until the part where they said u have to pay 10k to register knowing that it doesn't even guarantee you getting selected (biko I thought mortgage is like a loan for a house and like other loans d most important tin is to show ur ability to pay back following the payment scheme in place) to now say there would be a draw that just beats me. Na lottery or promo
ReplyDeletethere is always that Nigerian mentality everytime. Why would I even want to do biz with d govt. Wen d next govt comes now dere would be a total take over and all this project would become history and d participants victims. Kudos to fashola but I would appreciate if they remove the yeye draw tin. If u r eligible u get d mortgage finish at least that's what operates in other countries with a mortgage scheme
Hey Fleau! Thanks for your comment and concern. I do share similar views with you on the 10k, especially since it don't guarantee you getting selected - also multiply that 10k by number of people that won't get lucky - that is some undue income generated by the Government from a rather vulnerable public. I think the way the state govt might have been able to get away with this, was if they said the 10k is a one-off payment for a lifetime and you can keep playing with the hope that someday you get lucky as long as you are eligible - or eventually, there are more than enough homes for everyone.
DeleteOn the other hand, with the draw, I tend to understand why Lagos State govt has selected this route in starting: Apparently, there are more eligible people you will surprised to find out than houses currently constructed and available as this is a new scheme and new home ownership culture the state has just adopted and is fronting - juxtapose this with the current population of people in lagos alone, then you will agree that currently, there is no other magic to solving this problem gradually than the method they have adopted for now - eligibility and luck. What they could have also promised was that in the future, with the hope that this culture is sustainable through coming governments, there might be other routes that guarantees one a house through mortgage plans other than publicly held draws as there will more houses made available - but really, can this current government stand in the gap with such guarantees for coming governments? That is rhetoric!
Nigeria as a whole is still developing. Lagos, for instance under Fashola's government, I believe is trying to introduce common practices in other countries - e.g with the BRT Lane and now the Mortgage Scheme, I do hope, he can at least solve the power situation in Lagos before he leaves office, that will be a huge plus. that being said, remember what operates in other countries is credible to visionary leadership and part and parcel of their government almost right from inception. We are just waking up here.
We can only pray first that the coming governments will continue in these good works and traditions and do better - but really, who puts the new government there? Isn't it us the citizens. We also have a role to play (as government is continuous) to ENSURE that we vote only credible leaders into office and also perform till the end our roles and responsibilities as dutiful citizens.