Business
Stop Building Expensive Estates With Workers’ Money, NLC Tells Fmbn
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday cautioned the management of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to stop building estates for the super-rich with funds deducted from poor workers’ salaries.
The organised labour warned the FMBN to avoid a situation whereby poor homeless workers would be forced to park into expensive houses it was building for rich men in highbrow areas, many of which it said remained unoccupied.
President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, gave the warning at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an estate on an expanse of land acquired in Karshi, Nasarawa State, by the Public Complaints Commission branch of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria.
The NLC president said: “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.
“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 per cent of the people would be below the poverty line and the 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 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.”
He however said the NLC was partnering with the FMBN to build affordable houses in all states of the federation so that workers could have roofs upon their heads.
He said: “Because we are stakeholders. We are social partners with the FMBN, I have set up a committee who are meeting with the Managing Director of the FMBN and his other officials to try to look at how workers could benefit from what they are contributing.
“The money does not belong to the FMBN. It belongs to the workers because the funds are deducted from their salaries.”
The Chief Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission, Chille Igbawua, and top officials of PASAN said the Karshi estate project will help cushion the effect of accommodation problems of the PCC staff.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has criticised Nigeria’s import ban on 25 categories of goods, claiming that the restrictions limit market access for American exporters.
This is the effect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs introduction on goods entering the United States, with Nigeria facing a 14 per cent duty.
The USTR highlighted the impact of Nigeria’s import ban on various sectors, particularly agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
The restrictions affect items such as beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and alcoholic beverages, which the United States sees as significant barriers to trade.
The agency argues that these limitations reduce export opportunities for United States businesses and lead to lost revenue.
“Nigeria’s import ban on 25 different product categories impacts United States exporters, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
“Restrictions on items like beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and spirits limit United States market access and reduce export opportunities.
“These policies create significant trade barriers that lead to lost revenue for United States businesses looking to expand in the Nigerian market”, the agency said .
In 2016, Nigeria implemented the ban on these 25 items as part of efforts to control imports and stimulate local production.
Some of the banned items include poultry, pork, refined vegetable oil, sugar, cocoa products, spaghetti, beer, and certain medicines.
On March 26, 2025, the Federal Government also announced plans to halt solar panel imports to encourage local manufacturing as part of its push for clean energy.
A leading agribusiness strategist and digital agriculture expert, Ayo Oluwa Okediji, has sought cooperative-driven investments in sustaining growth of poultry industry in Nigeria.
He said the poultry industry was at a defining moment and requires urgent structural reforms to secure its future and ensure long-term sustainability.
Speaking on the theme, “Strengthening Poultry Farming Through Cooperative Synergy and Strategic Investments”, at the recently concluded Oyo Mega Poultry Workshop 2025 in Ibadan, Okediji called on poultry farmers, cooperative leaders, financial institutions and policy makers to rethink the existing structure of the poultry sector.
He stressed the need to transition from fragmented, individually-driven operations to well-structured, cooperative-led enterprises capable of attracting sustainable financing and securing long-term viability.
He said, “Our poultry sector cannot thrive on individual effort alone. We need to organise ourselves into cooperative clusters, build strong governance systems and position ourselves to attract the level of investment needed to sustain this industry beyond this generation.”
Drawing on lessons from successful global cooperative models such as Rabobank in the Netherlands and Landus Cooperative in the United States, Okediji introduced the FarmClusters Poultry Model, a locally adapted solution developed by Agribusiness Dynamics Technology Limited (AgDyna), a subsidiary of AgroInfoTech Africa.
According to him, the model is currently being piloted in Oyo State in partnership with PANOY Agribusiness Limited and local poultry cooperatives.
The Rivers State Representative of the Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Erasmus Chukwundah, has urged palm oil farmers to consider hybrid seedlings for planting, if they must break even in palm oil business.
Chukwundah said this recently at the Free Oil Palm Business Climate Smart Best Management Practice/Assistance Training organized by Partnership Initiative In Niger Delta (PIND) for Palm Oil Farmers in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
The Rivers representative said until palm oil farmers begin to consider such hybrid oil palm seedlings, they may not meet up with the daily increasing demand of palm oil in the market.
According to him, the seedlings produce up to 30 bunches at once that ripen same time.
He said PIND decided to partner with Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN) to ensure that the message was received by the targeted audience.
According to him, palm oil remained a popular choice of industry operators as it could be converted to many other products such as vegetable cooking oil.
He also noted that products such as motor tyers, marine ropes and others are now gotten from the palm tree.
Chukwundah, who is the immediate past Director-General of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industries, and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), further warned against use of unrecommended fertilisers in growing oil palms.
He noted that such practices could limit its export value or chances as the foreign marketers have a way of detecting such .
He reiterated the need for organic fertilizers, including poultry droppings, to enable them have a natural palm oil.
“People must reduce physical contact with palm oil production. That is why we are campaigning for hydrolic oil mills. The foreign markets are no longer interested in crude method of palm oil production”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the farmers, Sonny Didia, who appreciated Chukwundah’s commitment towards the concern of farmers, appealed for an urgent need for loan opportunity with low interest rate in order to enable them beat the target.
King Onunwor