On Tuesday, Mr Babajide Odusolu, a real estate specialist, called for
intensive awareness campaigns that would contribute to the removal of substandard housing.
He said the campaign would improve Nigeria ‘s qualitative,
accessible mass shelters that would bridge the large deficit.
Odusolu, Chief Executive Officer of Octo5 Holdings Ltd., a property development firm, made the
call to launch STOW, a real estate app, during a hybrid live / virtual meeting.
The app is intended to make it easier for
employees in the country to have affordable mass housing.
He said Nigeria is not a poor country, but has many low-income earners living in substandard
homes and commuting to their business districts for long hours every day to eke a living.
He said that poor housing and misunderstanding of how to access financial opportunities for low-interest housing were
some of the factors responsible for the more than three million housing shortages in Lagos State alone.
He urged the government to consider its failures in coping
with housing shortages and the need to cooperate with private developers.
He said such cooperation would help Nigerians shift their
mentality of heavy consumption to accept investment in homes.
“Unfortunately, 80 per cent of Nigerians spend their incomes on consumption and that has to change through this kind of awareness we are doing by bringing all the stakeholders together.
“Without private sector involvement, there will be no housing in Nigeria today.
“In the last three years, all states owned housing agencies combined in Nigeria built less than 10,000 houses, and in the same period, private sector had delivered 100,000,’’ he said.
He added that COVID-19 had highlighted the hazards of low-standard housing for the working population of the country,
adding that the issue should be viewed as a security issue in order to improve citizens’ living conditions.
Odusolu said Octo5 collaborated with mortgage institutions and other stakeholders to provide Nigerian staff with quality
and affordable mass shelters at near-single-digit interest rates, and exploit its newly launched STOW real estate app.
Odusolu gave a comprehensive history of the evolution of Nigerian cities and made comparisons as well as lessons
learned from different housing construction modules. Odusolu gave a lecture tagged ‘Housing in Nigeria: 60 years and still counting.’
In Lagos State, he noted that the
Lateef Jakande model was the most effective.
He added that the roads built between 1979 and 1983 by the former administration
led by Gov. Lateef Jakande are still opening up new cities in the state.
He commended the federal government and the state government for establishing policies that
encourage mortgage institutions, developers and other agencies across the nation to create affordable homes.
He said the STOW platform would fix problems and the concerns of
homebuyers that in the past had impeded real estate investments in Nigeria.
According to him, STOW is a web and app-enabled home purchase platform
provided by proven real estate developers for off-plan and new construction homes.
Octo5 Director of Utilities, Mrs Lauretta Odusola, also urged women to rise above the mentality that
they can not own property to begin investing in real estate through different small savings schemes.
She clarified that through the STOW app, the company provided incentives
to women to eradicate different restrictions that prevent women from owning houses.
Source: NNN
