By  Yinka Kolawole

A university don, Professor Aize Obayan, has called for collaborative efforts between the academia and practitioners in the real estate sector that will ensure a meeting point between theory and practice to get the best from the real estate stakeholders.

Obayan, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University based in Ota, Ogun State, stated this in a keynote address at a conference organised by the West African chapter of the African Real Estate Society on real estate education held at the university.

She declared that the recent global crisis has presented an opportunity for real estate stakeholders in Nigeria to learn and look inward to see how they could bring about programmes that would make them operate on a better platform.

“The real estate platform as we have it today is a fast growing one. It is only recently that we began to have the mortgage culture and many estate clusters of estate properties coming up in various parts of big cities in the country. However, I believe that we are only beginning in terms of real estate industry development. There is the need for us to find a meeting point between theory and practice to get the best from the real estate stakeholders.

“The real estate platform has a lot to do with the various economic visions of this country. I see changes coming on board in the sense that we talk about estate management, it will take quite a while to see the economic returns as well. Looking at the millennium developmental goals and the place of shelter, shelter that is not planned will not enhance the dignity of man,” she stated.

In his welcome address at the occasion, President of the society, Mr. Akin Olawore, remarked that the society brought together 12 real estate experts from the academia and the industry to brainstorm on how to further develop the property sector, adding that the seminar coverage will extend beyond real estate education, to industrial and research dimensions.