REDAN: Home Ownership Will Remain Elusive to Majority without Single-digit Financing

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) has said home ownership would continue to be elusive to majority of Nigerians without a single digit financing opportunity.

Speaking at the Capacity Development Conference for Developers in Abuja, the President of REDAN, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, said in order to achieve the government housing plan for Nigeria, interest on loan for building purposes should be drastically lower to a single digit.
He said: “Finance is one of the essentials of our business, hence our focus on how to get facility to build homes at cost that the average Nigerian will be able to afford.

“We are keen on how our Members can secure long tenured and single digit debt financing without which home ownership will remain elusive, as it is a fact that real estate development is capital intensive and requires a lot of outlay.”

He noted that the conference was aimed at capacity development for our REDAN members and has as theme: “Enhancing Investment and Finance Opportunities for Sustainable Real Estate Projects.”

Wamakko added: “The essence of this auspicious event is to further build the knowledge base of our members to be able to manage the multidimensional and multidisciplinary challenges involved in real estate business.

“It is also to increase our capacity to reduce waste and ensure timely delivery of projects. The knowledge from this conference will greatly help in reducing the incidence of building collapse as there is a specific session for the subtheme.”

He added: “We are concerned that our members comply with all extant laws and be ambassadors of improving and contributing to the growth of the national economy, hence we have invited relevant regulatory organisations to update members on Real Estate Developers Role in the emerging economy.”

Presenting a paper: “Who We Are! Building Collapse Prevention Guild,” the President of Building Collapse Prevention Guild, Yusuf Sulaimon, said the action of Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development of introducing the Certified Accreditors Programme to increase manpower and increase professionalism in ensuring compliance to building regulations by developers and to help identify buildings that needs to be decommissioned before they end up collapsing, should be emulated by other states to end instances of building collapse.

He also advised that REDAN should also create a monitoring team to monitor construction activities and ensure compliance with government regulations, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) needs to be proactive in ensuring that only quality building materials are in the market, each LCDA should have Building Artisans training Centers to equip the Artisans with requisite knowledge required.

Sulaimon, also said the Building Code and Regulations should be amended to include civil punishment to those that flout the building code flagrantly, regular review and update of the building code and regulations to ensure that it is up to standard and best practices, corruption in the building plan approval processing should be frown upon such that developers build according to the plans approved by government.

He said  whistleblowers should be protected and ensure their reports are worked upon and rewarded, if possible, proper planning, supervision and monitoring of construction activities should be institutionalised by policy makers to ensure that all buildings are constructed according to design, specifications, and planning regulations, professionals in the building industry should maintain their integrity and professional ethics and work in accordance with standard practice procedures laid down by the standard form of building contracts especially when they play in the hands of ignorant clients.

Sulaimon, equally said urban or town development agencies at various levels of government (Commission, Board, Authority) should enforce control of building works in their localities as laid down in urban and regional planning decree 88, of 1992 and as in section 13 of National Building Code 2006, “there is need to organise periodic public awareness campaign through electronic and print media to sensitise the public on advantages of using professionals as the way of realising safe buildings, and that all building professionals play key roles to actualise their respective obligations during building production, using the wrong professionals at any stage of the building process put the building in danger.”

“It is the duty of the architect as the prime consultant to direct the client to use the right professionals. This he achieves by ensuring that the structural and services drawings brought to his office are stamped and signed by professionals registered by their respective professional bodies before proceeding to planning authority for building permit,” he added.