Poor documentation delays retirees’ payments, FMBN staff reveal
Some staff of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) offices in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River have cited poor documentation as a key factor delaying retirees’ payments.
The respondents made the remark while reacting to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey on the delay in the refund of National Housing Fund contributions to retirees.
The agency recalls that over N500 million was disbursed by the bank to its states offices to pay retirees but the respondents explained that the payment was not automatic as certain procedures must be followed.
In Rivers, the Branch Manager, FMBN in Rivers, Mr Melody Ukwa, explained that the procedures required some organisations to comply in uploading a complete schedule of the retirees to avoid delays in the payment.
He said that once the schedule records were uploaded and the retirees submitted their applications, the refund payments would be processed, and the refund would be made.
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Ukwa said that the introduction of a core banking system had made the refund process seamless and efficient, adding, ‘’hundreds of millions of naira are paid out as refunds to retirees every year.’’
He stated that with the centralised payment system, applications were processed and treated immediately after approval from the head office as the bank is committed to refunding contributions to retirees.
According to Ukwa, the introduction of core banking has significantly improved the turnaround time for refunds, with some applications and refunds processed within a week.
‘’The Federal Mortgage Bank is conducting sensitization programmes for organisations to ensure they upload complete schedules to make the refund process seamless.
‘’The core banking system has also corrected many errors, making the refund process more efficient while the retirees receive their gratuities, including a 2 per cent interest, once they retire,’’ Ukwa said.
Similarly in Akwa Ibom, an official of the bank in Uyo also attributed the delay or no refund of retirees’ contributions to non-remittances of deducted housing funds to the banks by the employers.
The official, who did not want his name mentioned, said the major set back experienced by retirees was when most of their contributions were not remitted to the bank and they could not receive their expected huge sum.
He accused most employers of labour of not remitting proper payments schedule of their employees’ deductions, as ought to be, to the bank, saying that some organisations sent haphazard schedules of payment.
He urged employees to always find out if their employer had been remitting their deductions to the bank accordingly, saying that some retirees’ disappointment in receiving low refunds was not the banks’ fault.
He regretted that most organisations shortchanged their employees by deducting their money monthly but fail to remit to the bank and urged labour union leaders to always ensure that management remit employees’ deductions.
“Some organisations deduct and do not remit, so when a retiree comes for a refund, what he sees is not what he was expecting; this is sad and not the fault of the bank.
“Some of the organisations do not send us schedules of payment, so in a situation like this, the bank finds it difficult to make refunds,” he said.
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The official said that another thing that could delay payment of refunds was improper documentation by retirees which includes handwritten personal application letter, introduction letter from your office, ministries, departments or agencies.
Others in the listed requirements for NHF refund also include birth certificate or age declaration, retirement letter, appointment letter and change of name if any.
‘’Once we have the schedules of payment, it takes three months from the date of submission to process the refund; there is no week, we do not process up to 20 to 30 applications,” he said.
In Cross River, Mr Chris Oko, Branch Manager of FMBN in the state said that contrary to claims, civil servants and retirees get their refunds in record time.
He stated, ‘’FMBN is a government owned institution established to promote affordable housing through mortgage financing, its primary role is to manage the National Housing Fund (NHF) and provide long term loans to primary mortgage institutions.
Oko said that it was not true that Civil Servants did not know about the process to get their funds from the bank especially after retirement.
He said that he might not tell why some applications take long but as soon as they received application without any required documents missing, and processed them, the applicants received their refund in record time.
“There is no civil servant that comes to the office that is not given a checklist when they come to collect the fund application,” he said.
He explained that the checklist included contributors’ written application, duly completed NHF original form 11 and 08 introductory/identification letters from the employer, copies of retirement letter, birth certificate or sworn affidavit of age,
Others include original passbook/ photocopy of the first page if issued, copies of letter of first appointment and one month bank statement, bank name, account number, sort code and bank verification number were required.
He added that in the case of death, a death certificate issued by qualified medical doctor, a letter of administration if the amount is above N10,000 and affidavit of next of kin were required.
In her reaction, Mrs Joanna Edem, a Federal Civil Servant, rated the bank as being of no use to federal employees, attributing it to the reason why many of the employees did not know the Bank’s state offices’ locations.
According to her, any serious person that wants to build a house can’t go looking for FMBN, you go raise your money in whatever way you can.
Mr Joseph Amadi said how many civil servants even know or understand the process, adding that on getting there, you might be shown something on paper but the real challenges were usually not on paper
‘’The time it took does not worth the stress; I know that every month deductions are made from our salaries for NHF, many of us don’t know the essence of the deductions especially when it concerns FMBN.
Amadi, however, decried the nonchalant attitudes of the Bank officials, saying that they are hardly interested in workers’ existence. (NAN)
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