It is now a week when tension was raised among the residents of Daza area, especially those who are residing in the estate build by the immediate past administration of Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar over the recent eviction notice issued to them by the officials of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

The bank is alleging that, the occupants of the estate were living illegally not because the occupants were not allocated the houses legally by the officials of the Zamfara housing authority but because the state government has not fulfilled part of its responsibility of paying the principal loan it has collected since 2012 precisely.

The occupants may not understand how the entire scenario between Zamfara state government and Federal Mortgage Bank started. All they can understand is, they have been allocated houses and deduction had started, but how much is involved between the FMBN and state government they may not know for now.

HOW IT STARTED

The state government led by Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar collected a loan of between (N620,000,0000) and (N640,000,000) somewhere around 2012 for construction of staff housing estate on owner-occupier basis.

The houses were completed under the supervision of the Zamfara state ministry for Housing and Town Planning and handed over to state Housing Corporation for distribution to the interested civil servants.

But the most controversial part of the whole issue is that some of the beneficiaries that were allocated the houses have sold their allocation to other parties that are not known to the government and their record is not before the state housing corporation.

The state government also offered the certificate of the (58) housing units popularly known as Commissioner’s Quarters which presently houses many government agencies and personal residents of the state lawmakers as collateral for the loan.

Expectedly the state government is supposed to start paying the loan back after the moratorium period of two (2) years precisely by 2014 or 2015.

Surprisingly, however, the state refused to honor that agreement and also went ahead to allocate the houses to present occupants and also commence deduction of their money for the repayment of the houses.

Now close to ten years into the deal with the Federal Mortgage Bank the state government has neglected its share of responsibility to pay back the loan not mincing the simple fact that, certificate of one of its valuable property has been in the custody of the of the bank

THE CONTENDING ISSUES

Now that the Federal Mortgage has issued the occupants with the eviction notice the state government led by Matawalle need to act with speed before it is too late because according to the law, Federal Mortgage Bank has a valid and legal transaction with the state government, and it must do everything to secure the taxpayers funds loaned to Zamfara state government.

As it is and based on the information we have, the interest the loan accrued had overweight the actual amount disbursed to the state government as loan. Precisely, the state government is expected to pay back close to (N1.4) billion naira including the interest.

And if by any reason the state government ignored this problem, the Federal Mortgage Bank is left with no option than to either use force to evict the occupants including those that bought the allocation letters or auction the (58) housing units and recover its money.

According to the valuation report of the (58) housing units, the property was valued at the cost (3) billion naira even though it was a cooked price but from 2012 to date the value of same (58) housing units may drop to as low as (N1.5b) naira and the FMBN may quickly act in perfecting the auctioning before the value of the (58) housing units dropped so low that it cannot be able to serve as refund to the money in question.

The state government need to understand that the transaction between the FMBN and state government regarding the loan disbursed is legitimate and the state government stand to lose if the issue is not reconciled forthwith.

WHAT THE STATE GOVERNMENT NEED TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS WHOLE DRAMA

As it stand, the Federal Mortgage Bank cannot accept any idea that it should wait till next twenty to thirty years for the occupants to pay the money before the loan is refunded. That may not be visible taking into cognizant that the state government has dully sign a legal agreement surrendering it’s collateral in the event of failure.

The most important thing to do is for the state government to raise money in agreement with the FMBN and begin to pay either on monthly or quarterly basis defending on the negotiation.

The state government should ensure that it has negotiated a for “loan-workout” hence, if the interest continue to accrue FMBN may went for it’s last option of asset disposal and that would be too demeaning for the state.

The (3b) naira earlier mentioned as the value of the (58) housing units is on the basis of “forced sales value” which the FMBN may take careful notice of considering the likelihood of the value of the (58) housing units dropping as low as what the money cannot for the loan cannot pay.

The option of workers paying before the FMBN is settled cannot work in this particular circumstance so the state government must take the vow of honor and do the needful.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

For the main time, it would be good if Governor Matawalle may set up a high-powered committee/delegation to reach out to the management of the Federal Mortgage Bank FMBN and plead with them for genuine and true reconciliation on how to pay back the loan.

Secondly, the government need to set up time frame within which the refund would be completed so that FMBN may reconsider the option of stepping down its earlier notice of eviction

Again, the committee to be constituted should negotiate the stepping down of the interest in 50% so that the volume of the money can be reduced to an average percentage the state government can afford.

The government should make sure that the record of all the occupants are dully captured, and they have started repaying for the houses allocated to them so that government can recover the money and use them for another purpose.

The Governor should specifically see this as a call to save the state from another phase of embarrassment, especially considering how our heavy trucks were auctioned in those days of Yari administration which turned us to a laughingstock by the people of Nigeria.

Our candid advises to the Governor is we knew this particular problem does not start under his time, and it was purely a deliberate negligence of the past government but as a Governor, he needs to do everything to safeguard the image and reputation of the state.