The federal government on Friday announced a N10 billion housing scheme for civil servants, a move it said is meant to ease Nigeria’s housing deficit and widen access to affordable homes for low- and middle-income workers in Abuja. The package also includes a review of allowances and a 100% retirement benefit for Treasury-funded civil servants under the Contributory Pension Scheme from 1 January 2026.
Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack said the president approved the ten billion naira housing loan scheme to improve access to home ownership for civil servants. She said the change was meant to give workers and their families more stability, more focus and more purpose, adding that home ownership changes how a civil servant shows up at work.
The housing loan scheme will run through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, with funding provided by the mortgage bank for on-lending to federal civil servants. The bank said the partnership marks the beginning of a transformation aimed at improving affordable housing for Nigerians, especially civil servants, and said it will offer multiple housing options, including homeownership, renovation, rent support and incremental housing development.
The wider review also covers peculiar allowance, duty tour allowance for civil servants attending approved training programs at approved manpower development institutions, and changes to estacode and book allowance. The government said the adjustments were calibrated to reflect current economic realities, placing the housing scheme alongside a broader set of incentives for public workers.
On pensions, the government said Treasury-funded civil servants under the Contributory Pension Scheme will receive a retirement benefit equal to 100% of a retiring employee’s total annual emoluments, effective 1 January 2026. The approval is tied to Section 44A of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which the government cited as empowering employers to grant additional retirement benefits.
Shehu Usman Osidi said the formalized partnership with the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board marks a renewed commitment to improving the lives and welfare of Nigerian workers, particularly federal civil servants. He said safe, decent and affordable housing is not a luxury but a necessity, and that it is central to dignity, productivity and national development.
The timing matters because the government is not just talking about relief for workers; it is setting out a package of housing, pay-related adjustments and pension promises that begins now, while the biggest retirement change is still months away. The question for civil servants is whether the new funding and loan structure will translate into homes they can actually access, not just a policy announcement on paper.
