N267bn unremitted housing funds: Reps panel summons CEOs of insurance companies
An ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives has summoned the chief executive officers of all insurance companies in Nigeria over alleged breach of the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act, which mandates all the companies to invest a portion of their funds into housing development sector.
Chairman of the committee, Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau), who announced the summon during its sitting on Tuesday in Abuja, said the companies are defaulting to the tune of N267 billion.
Mr Bagos said most of the insurance companies in Nigeria have not been complying with the provision of the law.
Section 5(2) of the NHF states that every insurance company must invest a minimum of 20 per cent of its non-life funds and 40 per cent of its life funds in real property development but 50 per cent of the fund must be invested into the NHF through the Federal Mortgage Bank at interest rate not more four per cent.
“Every registered insurance company shall invest a minimum of 20 per cent of its non-life funds and 40 per cent of its life funds in real property development of which not less than 50 per cent shall be paid into the Fund through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (in this Act referred to as “the bank”) at an interest rate not exceeding 4 per cent,” the Act reads.
Mr Bagos said the lawmakers have the record of all remittances into the NHF, adding that the companies failed to remit a total of N267 billion.
”In 2019 alone, 54 insurance companies have not remitted N267 billion. They need to tell us where the money is. This figure does not include 2020 to 2023. We have the law but we are not working with the law, rather we complain on a daily basis,” he said.
The lawmaker ordered the clerk of the committee to write letters to all the insurance companies, fixing a date to appear.
He said the CEOs are to explain the reasons they have not been investing in the NHF as mandated by the law.
In his contribution, Timilehin Adelegbe (APC, Ondo) said the committee should publish the names of the CEOs in the newspaper if they failed to appear before it.
“For any outstanding unremitted fund, the CEOs should be held responsible and if they fail by the next hearing, we will publish their names,” he said.
Another member of the committee, Kama Nkemkanma, said “What we are talking about here involves billions of unremitted dollars; I will want us to be more serious.”
Mr Nkemkanma urged the CEOs to appear themselves rather than sending their subordinates, saying that there was a need to get to the bottom of the issue. Premium Times
