Dangiwa:  Profile of a Technocrat, Consummate Politician

Mark Chieshe

On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, the Nigerian Senate in Abuja screened Ahmed Musa Dangiwa from Katsina State as a minister nominated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to serve in his administration. Adjudged by many as a gentleman, a competent administrator and an accomplished technocrat, Dangiwa brings to the Tinubu cabinet over 30 years’ experience in real estate, mortgage financing and housing development that span private and public sectors as well as the academia.

As the MD/CEO of FMBN, Dangiwa championed historic reforms that helped to reposition the nation’s foremost apex mortgage bank on the path of transparency, profitability, efficiency, innovation, and wider impact as a social housing delivery institution.

During his five-year term at FMBN that spanned April 2017 to April 2022 and in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive for him to transform the nation’s apex bank as an impactful tool for delivery of affordable housing to Nigerians, Dangiwa developed and implemented a roadmap of strategic reforms that delivered unmatched results. He led the FMBN Executive Management Team to beat all Corporate Performance Indices since the establishment of the Bank.

Highlights of his achievements at the Bank includes the mobilisation of N279 billion in additional contributions to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme. As of April 2017, when Dangiwa assumed management of the Bank, only N232 billion had accrued to the NHF Scheme over a 25-year period (at about N9.28billion per annum). This was a major reason why FMBN failed to create much impact and reduce the huge housing deficit.

Within five years, Dangiwa led his team to mobilise N279 billion in additional contributions to the NHF scheme at an average of N55.8 billion per annum. He was able to do this by ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of the NHF scheme, engaging state governments to resume contributions to the NHF scheme and building strategic partnerships with labor centers such as the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).  

Also, it recorded disbursement of N175 billion affordable housing loans and construction Finance. As a result of the increased financial inflows from the NHF Scheme and in line with the goal of reducing the high housing deficit, Dangiwa led FMBN to deploy N175 billion towards the provision of affordable single-digit home loans to NHF subscribers and for the construction of quality houses in collaboration with reputable developers nationwide.

Some of the practical results of this historic loan disbursement included the provision of NHF Mortgage loans to 5,938 beneficiaries. This represented over 34 per cent increase from the cumulative total of 17,092 beneficiaries as of April 2017; the provision of home renovation loans to 77,575 beneficiaries. This represents over 2,926% increase from the 2,579 beneficiaries as of April 2017; provision of affordable construction finance for delivery of 13,339 affordable housing units nationwide. This represents over 59 per cent increase from the cumulative total of 20,435 housing units as of April 2017 when we assumed office and the historic increase in processing of N39.5 billion in refunds to 247,521 retired NHF Contributors.

The NHF scheme provides for contributors to be paid back their monies after retirement at a one per cent interest rate. As of April 2017, when Dangiwa came on board, FMBN had only refunded N10.8 billion to 132,605 retired contributors. He met a huge backlog of untreated applications for refund.

Within five years, he was able to ensure speedy processing of refunds totaling N39.5Billion to 247,521 retired NHF contributors. The amount is three times the N10.8 billion recorded by previous managements over a 25-year period.

He also initiated and kicked off the N40 billion FMBN Mega Cities Project, which was conceived by him. He began the implementation of the N40 billion the FMBN Mega Cities project under the FG National Economic Sustainability Program (NESP) to deliver 5,000 housing units.  1, 250 houses have been delivered by Brains and Hammers at Bungalow City Kubwa Abuja.

Furthermore, the ministerial nominee was behind the historic drive to enhance affordability of FMBN Housing Products for the Ordinary Nigeria. In line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive,  Dangiwa championed several initiatives that have made FMBN affordable housing products more affordable.

These include the downward review of equity requirements for FMBN housing loans: As of April 2017, when Dangiwa assumed office at FMBN, equity requirements for accessing FMBN housing products were as high as 30%. Heled efforts that led to the reduction to 10 per cent for loans above N5 million, and zero per cent for those below N5 million while retaining single digit interest rate regime for personal loans and thereby promoting inclusiveness.

·         Development of Innovative Housing Products to Expand Affordability: Dangiwa led efforts to create innovative housing products that expanded access to affordable housing to Nigerians. This includes the rent to own, which allows NHF contributors to move into FMBN funded houses and pay towards homeownership in monthly, quarterly, or annual instalments and the individual construction loan, which allows Nigerians with legal title deeds to get loans of up to N15 million to build their own homes with payment tenors of up to 30-years.

·         Dangiwa also led efforts to develop the Diaspora Mortgage loan to help Nigerians living abroad own their homes without being duped by relatives or friends in Nigeria. He also developed the Non-Interest Rent-to-Own (Ethical RTO) scheme to cater for the needs of many Nigerians yearning for non-interest housing product.

·         Development of a Five-Year Strategy Plan for FMBN: In recognition of the need to chart a reliable path for effective repositioning of the Bank,  Dangiwa spearheaded the development of a 5-year Strategy Plan in collaboration with Messrs. KPMG. The Strategy document is expected to run from 2020 – 2024. The plan aims to deliver 100,000 housing units annually, grow NHF annual collections from N50 billion to over N300 billion, expand the NHF customer base by 25 million new contributors drawn mostly from the informal sector to 31m.

·         Straightening Backlog of FMBN Financial Accounts:  As of April 2017, when Dangiwa assumed leadership of FMBN, he met a huge backlog of unaudited financial statements dating as far back as 2013. He quickly set up a Taskforce on Financial Accounts to clear the backlog. From 2017 to date, FMBN audited financial statements (AFS) for the Years 2013 – 2019 have been presented and cleared by the Board. The CBN has approved all the audited Financial Statements up to 2015.  2020 draft accounts were presented and approved by the Board and awaiting external auditors’ final conclusion while preparation of 2021 accounts commenced before his exit.

·         Digital Transformation Roadmap for FMBN: Arc. Dangiwa led a digital transformation plan for FMBN that increased transparency and accountability in the management of NHF operations.  He launched FMBN Mobile Platforms that enhanced NHF contributors’ access to their accounts using *219# USSD and other online platforms. His efforts to ensure the migration of the FMBN’s manual business operations to digital received a boost in December 2021 with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval for FMBN to procure and deploy a Core Banking Application for the bank.

Before his appointment as the Managing Director/Chief Executive officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, in April 2017 by Buhari, Dangiwa was the Managing Partner of AM Design Consults, an architectural and real estate development consultancy firm, and Jarlo International Nig. Ltd, a Construction Company, where he supervised the delivery of several outstanding real estate projects across the country.

Dangiwa started his professional career at TRIAD Associates, a reputable architectural firm based in Kaduna where he gained practical field experience in Designs and Project Management. As a result of his hard work, dedication, and resourcefulness, he gained rapid promotion rising from the position of Pupil Architect, Principal Architect, Senior Architect and Associate Partner within the short period of time that he worked at the firm.

He also worked at the Sahel Mortgage Finance Bank Limited, where he gained considerable experience in mortgage banking. He started as a Property Manager and rose through the ranks to head the Credit Control Unit of the bank. His remarkable performance eventually led to his elevation to the position of Manager, Mortgage Banking Division. In this capacity, Dangiwa oversaw the design and delivery of a wide variety of mortgage products and real estate projects, especially social mass housing.

On the political front, Dangiwa, after leaving the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in April 2022 contested for the All-Progressives Congress ticket for the 2023 Governorship Election in Katsina State during the APC Primary Elections in May 2022, though not successful.

As a dedicated and loyal party man, Dangiwa was appointed the Director General, Tinubu/Dikko Campaign Council, APC, Katsina State for 2023 General Elections. He led the Campaign Council through a rigorous, thorough, and successful campaigns throughout the 361 wards in Katsina State and gave the APC the 3rd highest votes across the country, after Lagos and kano in the Presidential Election in Katsina State; the party overwhelmingly won all the three Senatorial seats in Katsina State; the party won nine seats out of the 15 House of Representative seats in Katsina State and overwhelmingly won the Governorship elections, returning the Party’s candidate, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda as the Governor-Elect for Katsina State.

In addition, the party also won 33 seats out of the 34 House of Assembly seats in the State Assembly elections in Katsina State.

Having delivered the above successes for the Party in the 2023 general elections, he was appointed Co-Chairman, APC Transition Council to oversee the Preparation and Handover of Documents between the Outgoing and Incoming APC Governments on May 29, 2023, in Katsina State.

On May 29th, the Governor of Katsina State appointed Dangiwa Secretary to the State Government. He held this position until Tinubu nominated him as a Minister.

As an academician, Dangiwa worked in 1988 at the Katsina State Polytechnic where he doubled as Consulting Architect.

He is a Fellow of several respected professional organizations. This includes the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA); Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN); Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN); the Institute of Corporate Executives of Nigeria (FICEN); Institute of Credit Administration (ICA); Institute of Strategic Customer Service & Trade Management (ICSTM); and Chartered Institute of Loan & Risk Management of Nigeria (CILRM). He is also an Associate Member of American Institute of Architects (AAIA).

Dangiwa holds an MSc. (Arc) and MBA both from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in addition to a bachelor’s Honors degree in Architecture from the same Institution. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Wharton University Pennsylvania and has attended numerous training courses (local and international) on Housing Finance, Computer Aided Designs, Design and Build Workshops and Project Management, as well as several other professional and leadership training programmes.

With Dangiwa’s educational qualifications, experience in the private and public sectors, a stellar profile of achievements at FMBN, he will add a lot of value towards to achieving the vision of His Excellency President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for a prosperous Nigeria that works for all.

Chieshe wrote in from Abuja