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DEBO ADEJANA, Realty Point Limited CEO
He is an astute real estate entrepreneur. He heads Realty Point Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading Mass Housing Development Company, since 2005, after a meritorious award winning sojourn in commercial banking. The Company, the owners of the popular Trade Mark “Sack Your Landlord!” is primarily involved on the supply side of the Industry, with a strong presence in Real Estate Development, Investment, Training/Consultancy and Marketing Syndications. One(1) of the less than Ten (10) Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates, UK trained Mediation Advocate, ‘Debo is an Alumni of Lagos Business School having attended the Owner Manager’s Programme. He is currently the President of Prime Asset Housing Co-operative Multi-Purpose Society Limited (PAHCMS). A celebrated Author, Blogger and Speaker, he is on the board of other profit and not-for-profit organisations with a budding interest in Social Housing provision.
A few days ago, City People spoke with Mr Debo, who is highly respected in the real estate sector.
Adejana reveals alot on how the government can help property developers in Nigeria. Below are excerpts of the interview.
In which area do you think the Tinubu administration can help property developers in Nigeria?
I will expect issues bothering access to land are clear as soon as possible. We seem to have vast land in Nigeria but accessibility for the purpose of development is a challenge. I want Tinubu to clear all the blocking blocks around access to land.
That may require reviewing the land use act, especially removing it from the constitution so that further review can be easier. The issue of Omoonile, the cost of perfecting titles, and the beaurocracy in the sector, generally.
The government also needs to provide infrastructure. The government needs to open up more areas so that new places can be created and accessed, that will enable the developers to go into inter land to develop. They should also create more in terms of roads, rail, electricity, etc Government should open up more places and all these will aid more development.
The government needs to concentrate on infrastructure provision and it will help a great deal. Concentrating on providing enabling environments for developers to thrive, rather than the government getting into building houses. They should provide an enabling environment for private people to thrive in the sector.
The government should also partner with the private sector to provide affordable houses for the people. And also the provision of funds for the private sector will be helpful.
The government should also make the justice system to work to resolve one or two issues that may arise. They can set up a special court for real estate transactions so that it can make it more faster. These are some of the things that we want the government to do for property developers in Nigeria.
How can government use the real estate to revamp the economy?
To use real estate to revamp the economy is something that is doable. That’s what is done in most of the world when there is a challenge in their economy. Because real estate by nature is a people business. It requires a lot of people to play different roles in bringing real estate to bear. Construction for example: you don’t want to imagine the number of jobs that are created. From the labourers, to the auxiliary services that will be needed, people that will provide food, security, transporters, etc. There will be a lot of jobs created. If the government can focus more on providing an enabling environment for housing provision so that people who are in the business of housing can build more houses. It will stimulate the economy.
Do you think the current government should focus its attention on social housing?
Talking about social housing, I’m always of the opinion that the government has no business in providing housing directly. However, enabling environments, working with the private sector, bringing down the interest rate, creating mortgage opportunities for people, increasing access to funding for developers to get funds for their projects, increasing access to land, removing bottlenecks in the documentations, low-cost building materials, giving incentives to the developers to enable them to do social housing, etc will help the sector. Social housing can be created across various locations. Not everybody will be able to buy property but every citizen has the right to be sheltered.
What has your company been doing in the last few years?
We are big in three things : mass housing, industry capacity development (trainings) and investment alleviation. When we talk about investment alleviation, we are particularly focused on being able to bring real estate investment to low-income earners. We unitize real in a way people can afford real estate with their little amount. And that is what we have done in the last 18 years we have been in the industry. So we are big on mass housing but we start majorly from land acquisition. We make land easier for people. They can get into the property ladder by first owning land through us. We also have a structure that will help the construction. We have helped a lot of people who didn’t dream to own a house.
We are also very big on training people. We have contributed to the industry development a great deal. Most of the big players you see around today have passed through our training in one way or the other in the last 18 years.
Our customers are our priority. We serve them diligently.
What is your advice on the issue of house collapse to the government?
I think there is enough law. We should just have an industry-wild commitment. Both the private and the public sectors must be ready and make up our mind to stop the menace because it’s killing people
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