The federal government has made available N4 trillion through the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) 25% policy to provide homes for civil servants across the country.
This was disclosed by Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) during a workshop organised by Beracah Consulting, a real estate firm in Enugu.
The group appealed to workers in the South east to take advantage of a new policy by the federal government which allows them access up to 25 per cent of their retirement savings.
The group said government through the National Pension Commission in a recent policy shift provides for its contributors to access 25 per cent of their RSA to be used as equity contribution for purchase of property.
The South east chairman of NECA and managing director, COPEN group, Ugo Chime, in a key note address, described the new policy as the best thing that has happened to Nigerian workers in recent years, urging them to take advantage of the opportunity as it would help them to own a home even while they are still young.
He said: “We are aware that the commission warehouses about N16 trillion from about 10 million contributors. Twenty five percent of that means that N4 trillion has been made available to the real sector.
“At an average cost of 15 million per housing unit, that translates to 267,000 housing units. It is a game changer, especially when the World Bank posits that we need to deliver 700,000 housing units yearly to enable us to breach the yawning housing deficit.”
Earlier, the managing director, Beracah Consulting, Aworoke Ogbimi, while welcoming the workers at the event said that the new policy would help workers overcome the challenge of raising funds to acquire homes.
