Ichechi Okonkwo: Tackling Housing Deficit in Nigeria

For the Chief Executive Officer of Victoria Crest Homes, Ichechi Okonkwo, her vision is to make aspirational living affordable. With the recent launch of 587 units of houses including the Victoria Bay III Estate, located at Ikate-Lekki Phase I area of Lagos State last February, Sunday Ehigiator highlights the impact on housing deficit in Nigeria

According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, shelter is one of the basic needs of man, ranking next to air, food, water and sleep. This underscores the importance of housing to the well-being of the people.

Nigeria’s population is currently put at about 194 million people, while the United Nations estimates that the figure will rise to 400 million by 2050. By that estimate, Nigeria will be the most populous country in the world after China and India.

In a recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in view of this growth projection, there is a present deficit of over 17 million houses in Nigeria, and this requires about 700,000 new houses to be built yearly, compared to the less than 100,000 houses that are being constructed yearly

Therefore, it is neither new nor a mystery to assert that, with Nigeria’s growing population, we simply haven’t built enough homes to keep up and it hits differently across the two major classes of Nigerians most concerned.

For the poor, it means either not having a home or staying in bad living conditions, and for the middle class, it’s a housing market that lacks the right type of houses, especially in the desired location, as well as payment plans that don’t work for most.

The above birthed Victoria Crest Homes (VCH) vision of making ‘aspirational living affordable’, and has been its driving force in the last 12 years of her existence in the real estate space.

Speaking broader on this during the launch of the Victoria Bay Estate in Lekki, Lagos, last February, CEO, Victoria Crest Homes, Ichechi Okonkwo said, “Our vision at Victoria Crest Homes is to make aspirational living affordable. Standing from where our founder, Kennedy Okonkwo has started, mine is to make sure that the set goals; which is making aspirational living affordable, and making sure that every individual who aspires to live and give their families a beautiful, convenient life, are not only met but surpassed.

“It is a tough call here in our nation Nigeria because statistics shows that more than 22 million people are displaced, and our government is not doing so much to ensure that these figures are narrowed down.

“But we in Victoria Crest Homes, have looked at these numbers and are trying to ensure that at least, everyone in Nigeria enjoys that dream of having a roof over their head, because it is the minimum criteria for anyone to dream.

“Our core values include excellence, integrity, transparency, customer centricity. These things we have been known for, we have stood for, and will continue to standout with. I expect that everyone will continue to see and experience that, even at a much higher level.

“About a year and half ago, we launched what we called, Five Goodness. In interpretation, it means we were going to do five different projects within the brand. And this project is aimed at making aspirational living affordable. We targeted about 1,000 units. While we finished the initial phases of the Victoria Bay Estates by early last year, COVID-19 came.

“In the advent of COVID-19, it was tough for many companies to cope, many companies decided to downsize, and many companies were struggling with construction. As soon as the government started easing up sometimes in June, we said to ourselves that we weren’t going to change the timelines. This is because real estate provides massive employment. And real estate development and construction forms an integral part of the building process post COVID-19.

“So we fired up on all cylinders, and those projects that have timelines and due for delivery in December and January, we were able to wrap that up. Hence, today marks a major milestone in the honour of our company, as we are delivering 587 units of houses, spread across different locations. And the last of those sets is this project where we are, which I am very much passionate about. We called it Victoria Bay III.

“So this project is second to none I must say. What we propagate is to make aspirational living affordable. That is what the man who does a nine to five, a young urban professional, aspires to have when they move to the next level. We have researched and found out that the things that a man in Ikoyi enjoys are likewise being desired by an upwardly mobile young man and young woman. And those are the things that maybe ordinarily in other climes, the government may have provided, and where the government has not provided it, the private sector is willing to fill that gap.

“We are talking about security, living in an estate that is well secured, so that when you go out for your nine to five, you are sure that your family is well protected; living in an estate that has great basic amenities such as uninterrupted power supply, portable water, excellent drainage infrastructure, and a beautiful ambiance.

“If you go around this estate, you will find two swimming pools for an estimate. The infrastructure that we have developed here are those that you will find in a five star hotel. We have a very beautiful and well equipped gymnasium, where people can go and relax. We have a five-aside astro-turf, where you can play under floodlights, train and where kids can begin to develop their God given talents. And that is what the Victorious Crest brand tries to propagate and at a comparably affordable price. For us as a company, the strategy is to start to build a new Lagos, a new Lagos where all of us will live in peace and one love.”

Speaking on the affordability and flexible payment plans of the houses, she said, “When we started the Victoria Crest Brand, the first houses we sold were sold for N21 million. They were three bedroom terrace houses. The good part of those houses is that, today, those houses are going for about N40 million. And barely five years down the line, some people have enjoyed living in those homes, and today, their property is worth over N40 million.

“The good part is that we have begun to position ourselves for projects after Ajah. We have a new set of projects that we are launching today also just by the Lagos Business School. It is about 309 units. We have another one by Sangotedo, which has an entry level of less than N35 million. That portends a great thing for Nigerians and Lagosians who don’t have the money to live in Chevron, or Lekki Phase one, but then, you have a Victoria Crest project coming up just a little bit after Ajah.

“Our payment plans are also very flexible. We offer between 12 to 24 months payment plans. But beyond the payment plans, it’s about a company that has built an excellent track record of delivering. It’s about a company that has built a strong process for construction without cutting corners. We don’t believe that, because we say it is affordable, affordable should be horrible.

“We have backwardly integrated these projects that most of the consumables that are required for the construction of homes are produced by us, apart from the ones that we need to import. We import some of our finishing sanitaries, just to ensure that we produce a world class quality. So that is what Victoria Crest represents.”