BC POLICY
Saved by @GenZ67924900

News broke 3 days ago that the NASS has passed the National Housing Bill 2018. Meaning it's just waiting for presidential assent. A few observers have given their views on the new law. This is a thread to break down the law and explore its implication.

A THREAD

#NHFAct2018

 The National Housing Fund (Establishment Act) 2018 is a bill to repeal the NHF Act 1992 (now NHF Act Cap 2004). The bill sponsored by Senator Ahmed Lawan has the primary aim of mobilizing additional funding for the financing of housing projects in Nigeria. #NHF2018
The highlights of the bill are:

- Levy of 2.5% on each bag of cement
- Contribution of 2.5% of monthly income of all employees (Public and Private Sector) and self-employed earning from minimum wage and above at an interest rate of 2% p.a.
#NHF2018
- Investment of 10% of PBT of every commercial bank, merchant bank, insurance company and PFA in the fund at the rate of 1% above interest rate payable on current accounts by banks.
- The FG will make “adequate financial contribution & grants” to the fund as it deem fit. #NGF2018
- An employer (public and private) is expected to make the monthly deductions and remit to the fund through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN)
- The CBN shall collect the investment amounts from Commercial and Merchant banks at the end of each year.
#NHF2018
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) shall collect for Insurance Companies. While the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) has the responsibility of collecting for PFA’s. FIRS will collect from manufacturers and importers the 2.5% levy on cement. #NHF2018
- There are stringent and punitive sanctions for individuals or body corporate who fails to collect and remit contribution and levies ranging from losing operating licenses to fines up to N100 million for corporates and N10 million for individuals. #NHF2018
- Any contributor who does not have any outstanding loans and has attained 60 years of age or 35 years of service is entitled to a refund of contribution at an interest rate of 2% p.a. within 3 months of application. #NHF2018
Who manages the fund?

- The Federal Mortgage bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

How?

- Through lending to PMB (Primary Mortgage banks)

Who can access the loan?

- Individual Contributors
- Developers

#NHF2018
How do contributors access the fund and is it limited to contributions?

- A contributor interested in the NHF loan applies through a PMB, who packages & forwards the application to FMBN. The loan amount is determined by applicant’s affordability & not 2.5% contribution. #NHF2018
Is participation Mandatory?

- Yes it is mandatory for everybody earning any amount from minimum wage and above. Whether you are a public worker, a private worker or even self employed. As long as you are earning any amt from minimum wage, you're mandated to contribute. #NHF2018
What is the difference between the NHF Act 1992 (2004) and the NHF Bill 2018?

See attached chart.

#NHF2018
If the NHF Act has been in existence since 1992 and the provisions of the law was mandatory, how come it was not fully implemented?

There were several reasons why the scheme was not fully implement. I will explore some of them in the next few tweets.

#NHF2018
1. Stakeholders did not meet up to their obligations. As at 2013, the CBN had not even paid up its 30% equity stake in FMBN. Banks and insurance companies required to invest in the scheme defaulted. The CBN that was required by law to remit investment couldn't care less. #NHF2018
2. Many States didn’t start remitting until many years after the law took effect. And they also defaulted. As at 2009, only 24 States were contributing. It is difficult to enforce a law which the drafters themselves (government) are not even obeying. #NHF2018
3. Many employees through their labour unions simply opted out of the scheme due largely to complaints regarding alleged poor record keeping by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and cumbersome bureaucratic bottlenecks to obtain loans. #NHF2018
4. The cost of construction and real estate development kept increasing beyond the capacity of workers to afford. The maximum loan amt you can collect on the NHF presently is N15 Million with equity contribution ranging from 10% – 30% depending on the amount applied for. #NHF2018
5. Challenges in enforcement of the law. For instance, the law hasn't been able to figure out how to get the self-employed to contribute. The law expects them to voluntarily contribute. Besides, it's difficult to enforce a law that d enforcers themselves are defaulting. #NHF2018
6. Finance. The pool of funds was insufficient to make any significant impact. Between 1992 – 2009 (a period of 17 years), the fund was only able to mobilize about N70 Billion of which it was able to loan out about N20 Billion mostly to developers. #NHF2018
7. The Land Use Act made the process of perfecting title to landed property burdensome, slow and costly. The NHF doesn't fund purchase of land. It only funds construction and renovation of buildings of which you MUST have title documents proving ownership. #NHF2018
8. Political considerations: The States were more inclined to implement their housing projects than implement the NHF because such projects had greater political capital to them than the NHF which was seen as the arm in which the FG executes its own housing projects. #NHF2018
What has the NHF achieved since inception?

According to FMBN MD Ahmed Dangiwa, since inception (27 years ago), the NHF has disbursed a total of N193.4 Billion loans to a total of about 23,000 beneficiaries and refunds to about 230,000 retirees. #NHF2018
https://t.co/QfHAd9x1b4
While a significant part of the fund has been accessed by developers resulting in thousands of housing units constructed, it must be noted however that the fund has been most active in recent years due to increased collaborations with Labour, States and the OPS. #NHF2018
Now let's consider the challenges with the new NHF 2018 just passed.

@PwC Nigeria posted 10 reasons why the bill in its present form is a bad idea. I will like to highlight 7 of them for specific reference. #NHF2018

https://t.co/mYp6SLARPh
- The contribution is regressive as it taxes the poor more than the rich. For instance, minimum wage earners will pay about 250% of their personal income tax (PAYE) to the NHF monthly. #NHF2018
- Making all employers liable to deduct and remit the contributions monthly (without a threshold) will worsen the ease of doing business and Nigeria's paying taxes ranking. #NHF2018
- Cost of borrowing will increase as banks are required to invest a minimum of 10% of their profits at 1% above current deposit rates. #NHF2018
- Increasing the tax burden without addressing other fundamental issues like land regulation, REITS framework etc is not consistent with the 2017 National Tax Policy
- Imposition of the 2.5% levy on cement is a tax on property dev which will make housing less affordable
#NHF2018
- The requirement for PFAs to invest pension funds in the scheme means less returns for pension contributors which will erode value for pensioners. #NHF2018
- The return of 2% per annum for contributors withdrawing after attaining 60 years of age or 35 years of service is far below inflation rate and grossly insufficient to compensate for time value of money. #NHF2018
My Thoughts:

This bill is clearly an attempt by the NASS to mobilize more funding for the NHF which in 27 years has not been able to mobilize much in terms of finance. So clearly that is understood. However, the challenges of housing, goes beyond just funding. #NHF2018
There are systemic challenges around property rights for example that needs to be resolved. If this is not fixed, contributors cannot access loans and the funds will just be another big government effort to trap people’s money until they retire or worse die. #NHF2018
Secondly, I am of the opinion that emphasis should be more about strengthening existing laws to ensure that banks and insurance companies comply with the law as it currently is than enacting another law that will largely be defaulted. #NHF2018
For instance, the CBN, & NAICOM statistics indicated that between 2008 and 2017, total loans and advances by deposit money banks and non-life and life funds from insurance companies amounted to over N100 trillion. Imagine the impact collecting 10% of that amt wld have? #NHF2018
At 10% investment of their loan advances and insurance with the NHF, about N10 trillion shd have been invested in the fund by the banks and insurance companies over the period. Can we strive to achieve this first before increasing the burden of contribution on workers? #NHF2018
It's telling that the fund has refunded more people in its lifetime than it has granted loans to contributors. Without an integrated solution, plan and strategy in place, (which must also include increased funding), we would just be increasingly the burden on workers. #NHF2018
In trying to solve one problem (the lack of adequate funding), we should not create additional problems for the Nigeria worker and corporate entities. This bill should not be signed in its present form. The President should send it back to the NASS for review. #NHF2018

You May Also Like

The Light - Truthpaper
The Light - Truthpaper
@LightTruthpaper
Latest update from @TheBernician

1/19

Hancock, Whitty, Vallance & Ferguson Stand Accused of Pandemic Fraud.

After yet more damning evidence arose last week, further additions had to be made to the court papers, which we are now aiming to lay in the coming week.

2/19

The four defendants will be Matt Hancock, Chris Whitty, Patrick Vallance and Neil Ferguson, each of whom has inextricable and ultimately incriminating connections with Bill Gates and Big Pharma.

3/19

As well as three counts of fraud by false representation and seven counts of fraud by non-disclosure, under sections 2 and 3 of the Fraud Act 2006, we can now also prove that the entire worldwide scamdemic originated on these shores.

4/19

In fact, we can show that, without the dishonest statements and non-disclosures of the four defendants we are initially proceeding against, COVID-1984 would not have transpired.

5/19

Furthermore, the 1st defendant, Matt Hancock, cannot rely upon the defence of Parliamentary Privilege, on the ground that none of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution is capable of preventing parliamentarians from carrying out their lawful business in Parliament.
CULTURE
Brian Cates
Brian Cates
@drawandstrike
Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.
CULTURE
Advertisement
f1talks.pl
f1talks.pl
@f1talks
According to @RadioZET_NEWS PKN Orlen (major Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer) is considering entering F1 as a fuel sponsor (supplier) and personal sponsor of Robert Kubica. #F1

Yesterday Kubica was at Orlen's headquarters and met with Polish Prime Minister. #F1
ALL
Naval
Naval
@naval
How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):

Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.

Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you.

Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.

You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom.
LIFE , STARTUPS , NAVAL1
Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) The Whitaker scandal is deepening, as it becomes clear that Sessions' Russia recusal was a coordinated sham and his firing an act of obstruction—and that his replacement is a White House plant inside the Mueller probe. I hope you'll retweet and read on for more details.


1/ From 2014-17 Whitaker worked for World Patent Marketing—which during his tenure defrauded consumers out of $26 million and was successfully prosecuted by the feds. His involvement in the scam confirmed he had loose morals and that the feds would never want to employ him again.

2/ Despite the seeming impossibility of a man with Whitaker's background getting a job at Justice ever again—he'd been found to have used his former title as a US attorney to fraudulently threaten consumers with valid complaints with criminal penalties—Whitaker found an opening.

3/ Within 60 days of parachuting out of World Patent Marketing as it was being fined $26 million by the feds, Whitaker was working for CNN and telling a fellow attorney panelist that his purpose in working for CNN was to get noticed by one man—Donald Trump—and thereby get a job.

4/ Whitaker spent his time at CNN making ludicrous statements about the Mueller probe: there was no obstruction or collusion, he said; Mueller had no authority to look into any aspect of Trump's finances or to subpoena him, he said. All the while, he hoped Trump was watching him.
POLITICS