As the housing deficit in Nigeria hits about 28 million with a growing population of over 200 million people, the Federal Government and state governments have been called upon to support private investors in the real estate business with view to reducing the menace.
Experts have predicted that by 2050, the country’s population would be over 400 million and the housing deficit in Nigeria would have doubled if nothing is done to check the huge deficit.
The Managing Director of a real estate company, Kemsan Acres Global Limited, Oluwaseun Owoseni, made the appeal in an interview with journalists yesterday on the sidelines of distribution of food, clothing materials an other items to more than 500 underprivileged at Sabo, Jemibewon Road, Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State, as a part of activities marking the fourth year anniversary of the company. A leading Nollywood actor, Kolawole Ajeyemi who is the brand ambassador of the firm, was also at the distribution point to give back to the society.
Owoseni noted that real estate industry is one of the important sectors in Nigeria that government needs to give attention, saying: “We are celebrating our four years anniversary. We are here today to perform our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by giving back to the society. We believe that if one gives to the society, the person would get back from the society. What has brought us this far is what we have received from the society.
“We believe that the the basic needs of everyone is food, clothing and shelter. We as real estate firm, we provide shelter and we are here today to give food and clothes. We have reached out to over 500 persons.
“Real estate industry is a sector that the government at all levels should look into. We have the problem of housing deficit in Nigeria. We are appealing to the government to provide enabling environment for real estate industry to thrive in the country. We need the basic social amenities, such as good road networks and stable power supply.
“One of the major challenges the real estate industry is facing is that the people believe that it is a scam. But as far as Kemsan Acres Global Limited is concerned, when you buy land from us, we make sure that we allocate the land to our customers immediately. We sell real value of people’s money. It is actually a big challenge for us as industry because people believe that real estate firms allocate on paper without getting the value of their money. Kemsan Acres Global Limited works with three major core values; integrity, professionalism and transparency. We don’t involve in land grabbing, we acquire lands with genuine documentation.”
The Nollywood actor, Kolawole Ajeyemi, who is the brand ambassador of the company, appealed to the government at all levels to support investors in the real estate business in Nigeria so that the country would be positioned to overcome the huge housing deficit in the country.
“I am an actor. I accepted the offer to be the brand ambassador of the firm because I know the Managing Director in person and I trust him. I don’t want to tarnish my own image. I don’t involve in anything fraudulent and I have been working with them for a year. I remain committed to the brand and I advise them to maintain their integrity.”
The Business Sales Manager I of the company, and chairman of the company’s planning committee for the fourth anniversary, Faith Oyebanji, also said: “Our achievements so far have been massive. We are in four South Western states in Nigeria. We have experienced tremendous improvements in our services in the last four years. We started so little but our tentacle has been extended to different parts of Nigeria and abroad.
“We have been able to provide accomodation for over 20,000 residents in Ibadan. We don’t defraud people as we give 26 to 36 months planning payment for people. I would love to advise people to patronize reputable firms like ours. For us to have gone this far in the last four years, the people should trust us as integrity is one of our core values. Also, we have been associating with the state governments of where we have our branches. We can’t do without them. We need them and that’s why we have been having direct relationship with them. The state governments of our branches trust us and we have been finding it very easy for documentation of our certificate of occupancy (CofO) for our lands.”
