THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL HOUSING FUND SCHEME IN SUPPORTING TERTIARY INSTITUTION EMPLOYEES: A STATISTICAL APPROACH

Abstract

The study examines the impact of the national housing fund scheme on the staff of tertiary institutions in Taraba State. These include: Taraba State University, Jalingo,National Open University, Taraba State College of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Jalingo, Taraba State

College of Nursing and Midwifery, Jalingo, Taraba State College of Education, Zing, Federal Polytechnic, Bali, Taraba State Polytechnic, Suntai, Federal University Wukari and Taraba State College of Health Technology, Takum.  Quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were employed to achieve these objectives. Descriptive analysis was carried out to observe the unique features and relationships among the variables. The questionnaire was used to collect relevant information from carefully selected beneficiaries (staff of tertiary institutions which are all public institutions) in Taraba State. The study adopted the case study approach in 3 the zones that made up the 16 local Governments in the state, which are the main hubs of the NHF contributors/beneficiaries in the state. A total of one thousand (1000) beneficiaries, from Fifteen (15) tertiary institutions of learning were surveyed in the sixteen local governments’ areas that constituted the three zones in Taraba State. The analysis discovered that just 16.4% of NHF applications benefited from the Scheme, even though the acceptance rate was high at 84.2%. Additionally, the bulk of the applications took more than a year to process and be approved, indicating a lengthy processing period. Likewise, it was noted that debt repayment saw substantial default rates, rising from 23.8% in 2016 to almost 59.6% in 2023. The following suggestions were offered in light of the study's findings: the necessity of reviewing loan processing time for efficiency; automating NHF procedures so that applicants and recipients may monitor loan status; providing the Scheme with more funding to boost disbursement rates and Government to address the lingering infrastructural deficit to reduce the cost of housing delivery in Nigeria