By Akanimo Sampson
The Federal Government cannot be wrong if it really wants to commercialise the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), a mortgage consultant has said.
Francis Onwuemele, a Nigerian mortgage practitioner in Canada says Abuja can’t go wrong with the commercialisation bid.
‘’When the government uses the word ‘commercialisation’, I want to hope it’s not what I’ve seen in many governmental commercialisation initiatives. It is not commercialisation at all.
‘’I think the reason the government uses the word commercialisation is for them to divorce themselves from business and allow the businesses to operate on a professional, competitive basis/model.
‘’The NNPC has been commercialised. But look at the level of losses they are making every year and they are spending an N110billion on salary. No commercial outfit will do that. MTN will not spend N1 billion every year on anything if they cannot make N10 billion.
‘’So, if the government wants commercialisation, that is a welcome development provided the whole aim is to remove their hands from FMBN and allow the bank to enter into the business environment and allow its management run it as a business.
‘’That means they will look at their income and expenditure structure and ensure that they earn enough to pay their salaries. In that case, it is a welcome development.
‘’But I fear so much because I am not a very young man, I have seen government commercialisation and in the end, it is even worse off.’’
Continuing, Onwuemele who was speaking in an interview said, ‘’let me tell you plainly, I have had cause to work or come into FMBN, discuss with the guys there. Those guys there are brilliant. Each and every one of them, the librarian and others are brilliant.
‘’I even remember the director of loans. These are bright guys I’ve got cause to discuss with them. You can’t tie a wood on a man’s leg and tell him to run a 100 meters dash in 10 seconds. He will run but not in 10 seconds. He might make it in two hours. You have told him to run, but you have tied the wood on his legs.
‘’I’m hoping that when I hear commercialisation, they are going to pull out their hold or grips. Commercialisation starts from the quality of staff you put in there, the quality of staff you put in various departments, the quality of training and the quality of reward and punishment system and let them know that they can compete out there. If that is what they mean, that is good for FMBN.’’
