Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the management of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) builds estates for the super rich with funds deducted from poor workers’ salaries.
President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said this during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an estate in Nasarawa State.
“There are so many houses in Abuja today that are unoccupied. These are houses that were built with workers’ money, deducted from their meagre salaries, and yet the workers cannot afford them,” Wabba said.
“We have told them that a time will come when they won’t need to invite people to occupy those houses because poverty will soon push us to park our loads into any empty house we see, built with deductions from our salaries.
“There is an estate built by the FMBN along the Abuja-Kaduna Road which they could not sell because they are expensive; people went there and occupied the buildings. We are getting there gradually.
“When you go round the city, just look for buildings built with workers’ money that are left unoccupied.
“Yes, we are getting to that point when 90 percent of the people would be below the poverty line and FMBN is building for the super rich who are just 10 per cent. Housing schemes must be for the 90 per cent.
“Governments in the past were building houses for workers and would later sell the apartments to them at affordable prices.
“That is the type of system that we want now. We should practice a system that takes care of everyone including the vulnerable. Although government said it is doing something about it but we believe whatever they are doing is not enough.
“We have enormous resources in this country that could take care of the need of everybody.
“One of the necessities of life is accommodation. It is so important because every worker wants to be not a tenant but a home owner.
“One thing that consumes the income of a worker is rent. If you save your rent for 35 years, it can build a house for you.”
