Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has charged real estate
practitioners and investors to work with the Government to create a home
ownership model that will help the her address the deficits observed in housing
market in the State.
The Governor raised concern over the huge gap observed in the provision of
mass housing to large number of residents, describing the situation as
unacceptable. He said the State Government was ready to bridge the gap by
partnering the private sector and working with stakeholders to ensure people
have access to viable home services.
Sanwo-Olu spoke at the maiden Policy Roundtable Dialogue with the theme:
“International Best Practice on Real Estate Regulations”, organised by the
Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA). Property developers,
investors, real estate lawyers and practitioners attended the event held at
Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island.
The Governor disclosed that his administration had started to identify big
players in the real estate sector that would partner with the Government to
raise housing stock of in the State. He said the State Government was ready to
provide enabling environment for the investors to put their finances in
creation of viable housing market for residents.
He said: “Public Private Partnership is one of the options we are exploring
to realise our objectives of providing viable housing scheme for our citizens.
We are at the edge of identifying real big players in the real estate sector to
see how well we can leapfrog housing stock in our State. The Government is
ready to provide enabling environment and remove the bottlenecks that may
impede this opportunity.
“The housing stock deficit that we have in Lagos is not acceptable, but we
all know the Government cannot provide everything. We certainly need to explore
opportunities in private investment to ensure we realise our objective. Real
estate business has the potential of contributing 25 per cent growth to the
State’s economy and we cannot let this opportunity pass by.”
Sanwo-Olu said part of the efforts being made by the Government to raise the
investment level of real estate business is to improve the turnaround time on
land transactions. He said the State Government had started improvement work on
its Geographic Information System (GIS) platform to enable real estate
investors have real time information on status of property they are investing
in.
The Governor harped on lack of accurate data on real estate investment in
the State, pledging that the State would be working with the practitioners to
create workable database that would help investors and Government. He disclosed
that there would be introduction of legislations that would help curb bad
behaviors among tenants and property owners.
He disclosed that his Government would be launching a N5 billion seed
capital through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) tomorrow (Friday)
to support businesses that want to provide succour after to citizens in
different areas. The State’s Attorney-General, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN,
assured the stakeholders that the current administration was ready to regulate
business and protect the citizens from abuse and fraudulent transactions.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, said the
incumbent administration would not fail in its social responsibility to the
people and investors.
She said: “The reason for the emphasis on registration with the Real Estate
Practitioners and Property Developers is to provide protection to citizens from
imposters, fraudsters and reduce sharp practices associated with some
unauthorised individuals who are not registered members of any professional
association in Lagos and the country at large.
“I urge all stakeholders to join hands with the State Government to
eliminate dubious individuals in the Real Estate industry and deal with them in
accordance with relevant Laws of the State. This way, the integrity of the
business will be restored and international investment will increase. LASRERA
portal will provide local and foreign investors with the relevant data
analytics for market transparency and intelligence that will help the growth
and development of the real estate sector.”
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