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• Records 200% over-subscription

The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) said it has completed its N11billion 13.80 per cent Series 2 Bond Issuance under its N440 billion Medium Term Note Programme. It said it is part of its primary mandate of providing liquidity to the country’s mortgage market.

The net proceeds of the exercise will be used to refinance eligible mortgage loans originated by the participating mortgage lending banks. This is coming on the heels of its inaugural N8 billion 14.9 per cent Series 1 Bond issue in July 2015 – which was fully deployed towards refinancing legacy mortgage loan portfolios of the participating eligible member-mortgage lending banks.

The Series 2 Bonds are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and thus ascribed an “AAA” rating by both Global Credit Rating Co. and Agusto & Co. The order book was subscribed by over 200per cent. The bonds were subscribed to by domestic investors with the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) representing over 70 per cent of the investors. The bonds were priced at a spread of c.74 basis points above the interpolated 15-year FGN yield of 13.06 per cent as at the opening of book building.

The Managing Director, NMRC, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu, said: “The bond issuance reinforces our commitment to encourage and promote homeownership in Nigeria by linking the capital markets with the housing sector and establishing an operating and viable secondary mortgage market to support the primary mortgage market.”

He said NMRC remains committed to transmitting the full benefit of the pricing efficiency achieved in its funding cost to home borrowers through the participating primary mortgage lenders, thereby lowering costs and driving activities that will deepen the mortgage market.

Chairman of Dunn Loren Merrifield Advisory Partners, Mr. Sonnie Ayere, stated that the high subscription level for the Series 2 bonds is indicative of the strong investor appetite for the long-tenured asset class and underscores the confidence reposed in the underlying principle and operating model of NMRC.

The Nation

The controversy over access to the proposed Apple Island Estate being promoted by Nigerian Army Properties Limited, NAPL, and residents of Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, was laid to rest, weekend, as the Army promised to look for an alternative road to the 43-hectare project site.

Recall that residents of Banana Island had resisted the promoters of the project to access their site through the recreation area insisting it is not an access road. The project is to be developed adjacent to Banana Island on a reclaimed land from the Lagos Lagoon.

At a peace parley, chairman of Banana Island Residents Association, Mr. Chudi Ubosi, said accessibility to the site, if allowed as being contemplated by the promoters, would affect the exclusive nature of the residential estate and its privacy.

Ubosi said: “Nobody can come here to do a development of this magnitude without letting us know. We are not saying you should not do your development but access to that development is going to be a problem. “Besides, this road is already servicing two estates within. So, allowing another estate use the road will augur well for residents of this estate.”

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, who was on an inspection tour of the project, said: “We will look for an alternative road to the site. We are going to ensure the actualization of the project in such a way that it will not affect the interest of the neighbouring Island.”

Kingsley Adegboye & Gabriel Olawale

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged stakeholders to identify and address all problems militating against land administration and management in Nigeria.

Osinbajo spoke on Monday at the opening of a four-day National Stakeholders Dialogue on Land Reform in Nigeria holding in Abuja.

The Vice President said there was “much more to do if we are to fully unlock the immense potential of land in Nigeria,” calling on stakeholders “to work towards using land reform as a tool for the creation of a better and more prosperous future for Nigeria.”

The dialogue, organised by the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, will among other things, discuss the legal and institutional framework for land reform in Nigeria, effective land administration and management in Nigeria and institutionalising systematic land titling and registration in Nigeria.

Professor Osinbajo said that government was working towards land reform policy to empower the rural poor by making it a medium of exchange.

“To create wealth land must be fungible, like money it must be a medium of exchange especially in its role as collateral. This is the only sure pathway to sustainable economic empowerment for all especially the rural poor. Our economic policy as a government is strongly influenced by the notion that given the size of the bottom of the pyramid in our country we must focus policy especially credit and land ownership on that segment of the populace. This is the path of economic and ultimately social reformation of our country.”

Osinbajo said that there was need for the state to take the lead in initiating and overseeing some form of improvement of the system “even if that reform is one that will ultimately end in less State control.”

He said National Economic Council, NEC, has endorsed the recommendations of its sub-committee on land reforms, which included the Systematic Land Titling and Registration (SLTR) Regulations; Regulations on Registries; Regulations on Mortgages; and Regulations on Sectional Titles.

“I understand that the Committee has since refined these regulations further, in line with NEC directives, and have now submitted them to the Cabinet Secretariat for the consideration and approval of the National Council of State,” he said.

The Chairman of the event and former Chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, Professor Akin Mabogunje, said land reform was central to economic development, pointing out that land reforms is “the greatest hurdle standing in the way of rapid economic development of many African countries today.”

Also speaking, the Keynote Speaker, Professor Kayode Idowu of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, South West Nigeria, called for the setting up of National Land Reform Commission in the three tiers of government in Nigeria.

He said the commission would “guarantee the land reform process a firm, legal and sustainable institutional framework.”

Earlier in his address of welcome, the Chairman of the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, Professor Peter Adeniyi, said land reform was critical in tenure and ownership.

He said Nigeria would be transformed if land is reformed.

Participants at the dialogue came from different parts of Nigeria and some countries in Africa.

Cyril Okonkwo

A Professor of Land Economics at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Prof Ezekiel Olukayode Idowu has called for the establishment of a National Land Commission to oversee land matters in the Country.

Prof. Idowu stated this while delivering his keynote address at the National Stakeholders dialogue on land reform in Nigeria held in Abuja.

The keynote address was titled Land reform: Creating Strategic Pathway to National Economic Development and Wealth Creation.

While calling for a comprehensive land policy and a creation of a land commission, he said “individuals, families, cooperatives should be given titles to land. Nigerians would then be able to use their ingenuity to invest, produce, eliminate poverty and create wealth for themselves and the country would develop. All the forms of insecurity would then vanish and the country will experience lasting peace.”

The Don said it is possible for Nigeria to become one of the top twenty economies in the world. He added that ” this can be achieved by proper use of our land resource. Individuals, groups and the state must use their powers in ensuring efficient utilization of the country’s land resources and thereby engender the prosperity of our dear country.

According to him “to achieve this, land relations must be transformed from their current complex and confused judicial forms(that include communal, feudal, family, freehold and other holdings) to a comprehensive land reform.”

Prof Idowu said the comprehensive land reform should be radically different from the present Land Use Act with its attendant multiplicity of interests and ambiguities. He called for individuals, families, cooperatives and corporate bodies to be given titles to land.

He said ” given the level of our land resources estimated at appropriately 92.4 million hectares, no Nigerian should go to bed on an empty stomach and everybody should have a roof over his or her head. the reverse is however the case, poverty is everywhere, both rural and urban”

Prof. Idowu listed the potential and direct benefits of land reform in Nigeria to include promptly investment in land, development of land market operations in Nigeria, prevention and revolution of land use conflicts and the assessment and collection of land tax.

He said land reform is difficult to implement because of the underlying motivation of those initiating the reform. He added  that the true motives for reform may be different from those announced by the reformers.

The dialogue is expected to hold for four days and is organized around three subthemes: Institutionalizing systematic land titling and registration in Nigeria, Effective land administration and management in Nigeria and legal and institutional framework for land reform.

The dialogue is supported by Dangote Group, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Abuja International Housing Show, The Africa Land Advisory Group, Ford Foundation, GIS Transport Limited. The Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture.

Adeleke Samuel, Housing TV

Construction giant, Julius Berger Plc and Van Oord have been picked by the Nigerian Army for the development of its iconic Apple Island project in Lagos.

The mixed-used development being promoted by the Nigerian Army Properties Limited is located off the Banana Island, reputed to be the preserve of the rich.Named ‘Apple Island’ because of its shape, the project is expected to comprise about 100 housing units for top military officers, who currently are suffering acute accommodation shortage.

The project expected to be sited on a reclaimed parcel of land from the Lagos Lagoon. The sandfilling of the scheme is yet to commence.The proposed island is to be located 400 meters off the shoreline of the upscale Banana Island in Ikoyi. It would sit on 45 hectares, with a total of 131 plots.

It consists of a shopping mall, Guest House, Police station a mosque and a clubhouse.The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Burutai visited the site of the proposed Apple Island being promoted by the Nigerian Army Properties Ltd.

General Burutai, who performed the traditional ground breaking ceremony said the project will help to alleviate the accommodation problems of the officers.Accompanied by military commanders including General Enebong Udoh, General Officer Commander, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, he stressed readiness for the project to be completed within time.

The architectural design was handled by Messrs Majoroh Partners. The shape was specifically done to wade off water current as well as obstruct debris.According to the architect, the island consists of 64 plots for the army, with another 24 hectares lay out, while a bridge will be constructed over board.

The firm stressed that the project is expected to have two layout. One layouts for the Army and another for civilian population, who will want to enjoy the security and the ambiance provided by nature.The Business Mmanager, Tauraf International Limited , the appointed developer for the project, Babajide Ayoade, who briefed the Army chief expressed optimism that project will be a delight for Nigerians.

The Guardian gathered that the island was part of the Lagos Master plan created over 40 years and was being designed in line with international best practices.Already prospective buyers are already making enquiries for a plot as the island will have other areas apart from the 100 housing units for top military officers.

Bertram Nwannekanma