Okoro Urges Government to Provide Free Land to Housing Cooperatives
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief Meckson Innocent Okoro has advised government at all levels to allocate land free of charge to housing cooperative societies to enable them play a role in increasing the nation’s housing stock. Dr. Okoro, a former National Publicity Secretary of NIESV, stated this in an opening remark when he chaired the launch of a housing scheme of the Perfection Real Estate Investors Co-operative Society, which held at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, recently.
Perfection Real Estate Investors Cooperative Society is an independent membership Real Estate club, whose sole purpose is wealth creation through Real Estate Investment for the benefit of members. The core purpose of creating this society is mainly to empower people and provide solutions to the human problems in the real estate sector, while the ultimate goal is to aspire by all means to achieve financial freedom for each and every member of the society through Real Estate wealth.
The launch of the Perfection Estate Phase 1, located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, was attended by HRM Oba Olumuyiwa Ogunbekun (Onilekki of Lekki Kingdom), who was the Royal father of the day, and by other distinguished personalities.
The Principal Partner of MI Okoro and Associates said giving free land to housing cooperatives would reduce the per unit price of housing delivery. He also urged government to “give tax incentives to cooperative societies of this nature to encourage them develop more houses. Bribery and corruption at high level in government offices must stop, as this discourages investment in housing.
He discussed some challenges in real estate investment, which included its capital intensive nature, worsened by “low income and lack of opportunity for private wealth creation.” Other challenges are: “that land and housing acquisition are a bit problematic. This is because of the effect of Land use Act of 1978 where the Governor of any state is the overall landlord in which case you must obtain the consent of the Governor or Certificate of Occupancy before you can act on the land with its attendant high cost of fees and other documentation charges. It also involves a lot of time for the Governor to sign the C of O or consent.”
He also discussed the negative impact of some policies and utterances of government which “can negatively affect the demand and supply of housing,” giving an example of the monitisation policy.
He said, “Political instability and the effect of using EFCC to harass prospective house owners. When the leadership of a country is weak or not performing, the general economic profile suffers, like in the case of Nigeria where the illness of Mr. President is affecting economic prosperity of our country. Business activities are moving at a slow pace, coupled with the fact that the EFCC is going after people that spend certain amount of money mainly in the purchase of properties. Now, that can reduce housing demand and supply.”
According to Okoro, “The Real Estate products the cooperative can target for investment include: Prime houses in first class locations; Research on where there is more demand, whether the upper class, middle working class or lower class of the society. This would help to identify one’s target market; Bare land for site and services only and sell off all the land without having to build to tie down capital; Check if there is need to develop warehouses for industrial users instead of focusing on building houses for residential purposes alone. You should be on a lookout for the product that will give you a good return on Investment; Burial grounds are another type of real estate products that can enable you make good returns on real estate investment because death is inevitable and people must be buried; See also the acquisition or development of event centers as they are on very high demand in the cities. You can also invest in hotels but it is advisable to contract it out to experts to manage for you.” He said, “On the part of the officers of the cooperative society, you must be very transparent to enable you command the trust of investors. Transparency and Integrity must be your watchword when dealing with your members. You must not attempt to enrich yourselves at the expense of your investors who have entrusted you with their hard earned money.
“Please make sure you engage desired professionals who will guide you well enough before making any investment proposal to your members. Try as much as you can to take indemnity insurance policies to protect the investment of your investors.”