Axial Delivers Over 5,000 Affordable Housing Projects

Bennett Oghifo

A construction and private investment company, Axial Nigeria Limited, has redefined provision of affordable housing in Nigeria having delivered over 5000 housing units located in Lagos, Ekiti, Osun and Ogun states.

The projects, according to the firm, were delivered under a partnership arrangement of Build, Operate and Transfer (BoT) with Nigerian universities in those states.

The citadel of learning where these units of houses were built include University of Lagos (UNILAG), Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU)  and College of Nursing Science, Ekiti, Southwest, Nigeria. 
In UNILAG Lagos,  the developer delivered 1,147 units known as El-Kanemi Halls 1 and 2. In it’s efforts of growing through digitalisation it has delivered 600 investment housing through the online community housing and finance platform popularly known as BREICS.com
At OAU, a total of 1,040 units were constructed for the school’s Centre for Distance Learning, christened as Moro Osun State Phases 1 and 2. It also built 412 units for the same varsity.

At OOU, Ago Iwoye Campus, Axial delivered 506 units structured in two phases.

While FUOYE got 474 units, College of Nursing Science, 600 units were delivered in EKSUTH, Ado-Ekiti with an impressive six months completion period.

Speaking on the projects at the weekend, Managing Partner of Axial, Arc Eyitope Ajayi, said the over 5000 units completed serve as the company’s proof of concept and capacity to deliver developments that have direct bearing on human lives and the sector.

According to him, these projects became a reality due to the vision, strong leadership and doggedness of his mentor and Axial’s founder Arc (Sir) Oladipupo Ajayi, President of Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and Chairman of Axial’s student housing initiative.
“Axial, established in 1987 by our visionary founder with his vision to design and build with integrity, has developed into a design, build, manage and private investment management company with real estate investment management offerings to private and public investors.”

The Managing Director added that while the company looks forward to partnerships with infrastructure financing entities for lower untreated rates amortized over longer periods for more sustainable expansion into other geopolitical zones, the over 5,000 units has conveniently housed over 50,000 residents since completion.

The investment and property development expert added that Axial will continue to promote social impact development through affordable housing and increased access to education in Nigeria.

Justifying his company’s decision to delve into student housing construction for higher institutions, Eyitope said, less than 20 percent of Nigerian students in the various nation’s citadel of learning are housed on their campuses, adding that the government both at the federal and state levels had come up with policies that encourage private investors to own and run the hostels.

On the investment option, Eyitope said: “Axial’s private infrastructure debentures allow investors to acquire a property with benefits ranging from capital appreciation to high rental yields with regular income annually in Nigerian Universities where they are located.
“The stress of management and the need to provide tenants or maintain the property is also off as these are all carried out and borne by our expert management team at Axial.

“90 percent of the students in Nigerian universities live off campus simply because of lack of on-campus accommodation with especially young girls straight out of highschool to college exposed to negative elements outside the campus walls.

“The existing housing is not only inadequate, but unhygienic and certainly not conducive to a learning environment.
“Axial provides standard accommodation at affordable cost to primarily female students.

“In the last few years, our capital growth in student housing development has  recorded significantly from N750m we started with now to over N10bn without default in payment of annual rentals to our investors and financiers.”

Arc Eyitope Ajayi leads teams focused on providing infrastructure, real estate, investment management, community development and policy services.

He also offers advisory services to institutions, corporations, and family estates, in the capacity of reviewing, analyzing, developing, updating and implementing policies that enable them to create parameters of increased growth, regulate operations and achieve sustainable goals.

He is actively involved with tackling the precarious social inequality and global housing deficit problems in developing communities.