By Ojo Oluwafemi
Akure – Organised Labour in Ondo State have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to promote easy access to loan for civil servants to purchase and develop their own homes.
Ondo State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Sunday Adeleye, made this known on Friday when he presented the MoU to the state Head of Service, Dare Aragbaiye, in his office in Akure.
He said all the trade unions in the state, represented by Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC), NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC), were committed to promoting the welfare of workers.
Adeleye said that the MoU was aimed at providing more access to basic needs of life to achieve better standard of living for workers in the state.
Adeleye also commended Gov. Akeredolu’s administration for prioritising the welfare of both serving workers and pensioners.
According to him, government could not be left alone to meet all the needs of the workers and stressed the need to involve the organised private sector to complement efforts of the government.
Aragbaiye lauded the initiative of the labour unions for mobilising public servants in the state to contribute to the National Housing Fund to purchase and build their own houses.
Aragbaiye explained that the step taken by the leadership of the unions would alleviate the problem of accommodation for civil servants as government quarters could no longer meet the increasing demand of public servants in the state.
FMBN Executive Director, Business Development and Portfolio Management, Umar Magana Abdullahi, congratulated the unions for keying into one of the various products on offer by the bank.
Abdullahi said it would be of a great benefit to public servants in the state and will provide permanent solution to their accommodation problem.
He noted that the state government had provided a large expanse of land for the construction of the proposed housing estate.
Abdullahi added that each contributor to the National Housing Fund(NHF) scheme would be eligible to process loan to purchase, renovate or construct his or her own house at the prescribed interest rate.
(NAN)
