From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders of Nigeria, (IMBLN), Dr. Jasper Adeleye has asked unlicensed and quacks in the mortgage and real estate sector to obtain the necessary certification and license of practice from the regulatory body or be weeded out of the ecosystem.
He said the sector totally outlaws uncertified players as they will be decisively sanctioned for breaking the law.
Adeleye, in a statement he signed on Tuesday in Abuja, said the 2020 Act establishing the institute empowers it as the only body responsible to regulate the sector with the grand plan of sanitizing the mortgage space beginning with the elimination of unlicensed practitioners.
He said the institute, incorporated under the CAP 59 of 2004, and signed by the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, has been legally mandated to regulate mortgage professionals, mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, mortgage agents and real estate agents.
Dr. Adeleye further called on all stakeholders to ensure compliance with the regulator of the sector or risk legal proceedings and other sanctions as stipulated in the Act (2022) as gazetted.
The Registrar described the Institute’s mandate, which includes aiding access to mortgage facilities, regulating the practices of all corporate or incorporate bodies, societies, firms, companies or persons as sacrosanct, saying it will stick to rules of engagement.
The Institute was established following the passage of its Bill by the House of Representatives in March of 2021, and a concurrency by the Red chamber in September of 2022. The Act was signed by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari in December, 2022.
The Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders of Nigeria, (IMBLN) is a body responsible for the regulation and certification of all mortgage professionals, real estate practitioners and agents in Nigeria with the intention to eliminate fraudsters from the industry by providing Training, Certification and Licensing for practitioners of the sector.