ICBC pledges $6 billion for Nigeria’s housing sector

A joint delegation of China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) and the International Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has disclosed plans to finance about US$6 billion in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving housing sector. The loan would have a 15 to 20-year tenure for disbursement in tranches of US$1.5 billion to build houses under the supervision of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).Gimba Ya’u Kumo, Managing Director of the FMBN, said that the bank was promoting public-private partnership arrangement in tackling a deficit of about 17 million houses in Nigeria. Mr. Kumo said that one of the new estates would be called Goodluck Jonathan Legacy Model Housing Estate and be funded by a commercial facility, but delivered at an affordable price to FMBN staff and general public. A 1,000 unit staff housing estate at Kagini, FCT, will be a model for this project. He listed the targeted institutions to benefit from the scheme as the Nigeria Police, US$100 million; the Federal Road Safety Corps, US$50 million; Nigerian Air Force, US$50 million; Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, US$50 million; and Federal Ministry of Education, US$50 million. The states to benefit from the financing window are Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Rivers, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, and Kano, each of which will access US$50 million.

Number of official sources

0

Number of unofficial sources

3