Abstract:
Purpose – The Nigerian Government’s initiatives to provide housing loans to low-income pensioners (LIPs)
have been futile. This paper aims to examine the root cause of housing loan inaccessibility for the Nigerian LIPs
and proffer some possible policy options. This is because inaccessibility to housing finance is one of the
impediments facing the LIPs homeownership.
Design/methodology/approach – The phenomenology type of qualitative research was employed to collate
data. The study supports MAXQDA 2020 with thematic analysis to analyse the data and achieve saturation
with 30 knowledgeable participants.
Findings – Findings show that housing loan rejection is extremely high among LIPs. Some of the impediments
facing the LIPs in accessing housing loans include delayed gratuity, insufficient income for housing loan
repayments, failed mortgage finance, incapacitated National Housing Fund (NHF), a corrupt system and lack of
collateral.
Research limitations/implications – The paper is limited to the housing loan inaccessibility for the
Nigerian LIPs and data collected via semi-structured face-to-face interviews in Lagos, Nigeria. Other
developing cities may adopt the suggestions that will emerge from this paper with similar housing loan
inaccessibility issues.
Practical implications – This study would stir policymakers and mortgage institutions to consider the
suggestions from this paper. Examples are the review of the Pension Reform Act 2014 to allow for 50% part
withdrawal from the Retirement Savings Account, 10% upward review contribution to NHF and create special
Federal Integrated Staff Housing Programme (FISH-P) for LIPs. These form part of the practical implications
and will be helpful to policymakers.
Originality/value – Research regarding LIPs’ housing loan accessibility is limited, making this paper one of
the pioneering attempts to investigate the root cause of housing loan inaccessibility for the Nigerian LIPs, and
proffers some possible policy options.
