—-Says more construction of high rise buildings will address deficit
By Kingsley Adegboye
To solve the lingering problem of Nigeria’s huge housing deficit, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Wealth Island Properties popularly known as WIP Africa, a Lagos-based renowned real estate development firm, Mr Tade Cash, has called on the government to simplify the process of land documentation, just as he believes that encouraging construction of high rise buildings in the country will address the deficit.
Tade spoke on the sidelines of the company’s ‘get together’ to appreciate its marketers who performed wonderfully well last year. The event took place in Maryland, Lagos last weekend.
According WIP Africa boss, “Even before I stepped into real estate business I have been hearing of housing deficit. The truth of the matter is that housing deficit is only an effect, and if you are trying to treat an effect without treating the cause of that thing, you are not going to solve the problem.
“The number cause of housing deficit in Nigeria is that the government is not serious about it. The policy and the Constitution of Nigeria will perpetually make housing deficit to be normal. And for the problem to be solved, one, the government has to realise the fact that the issue of owning land has to be made simple.
“Today, it is difficult to own land in Lagos. When I mean owning land, it is not just about buying land, I am talking about securing the documentation for a single land. For instance, if you want to build an estate today, you will be talking about five to 10 acres of land. For you to secure documentation for the land, it will take you a lot, and as a result of that, an everyday guy does not want to go through all these rigours.
“So, what happens? And even as you try to solve the problem of documentation, these guys called land grabbers (Omoniles) will surface from nowhere and begin to harass you to settle them. To be able to tackle housing deficit in Nigeria, we must be able to maximise the optimisation of our air space.
“A lot of people want to live within the city, and the reason a lot of people want to live in the city in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria is that we don’t have road connectivity. Mobilisation is important for you to live outside the city. This is why people don’t want to live outside the city. If you are living outside the city, the number one issue you have is that your prosperity is hampered.
“Most people live in areas where rents are cheap but the standard of living is very high. They work in the city and they have to pay transport fares to and fro daily. What about your health and all of that?.
“So, for people to live within the city certain things have to be addressed. And in our own case, what we have done is to take advantage of air space by going vertical. About two years ago, they stopped construction of bungalows in Osborne. They want everybody to go high rise. Why do you have to go high rise? Because of the cost of land. To acquire land is so expensive, why are you wasting the land that cost you about a billion Naira by building a bungalow on it? So, we have to go vertical to maximise the air space.
On building collapse, Tade who disclosed that his company has been in business for 13 years and has eight ongoing housing projects said “When I look at the fundamental statistics of how many high rise buildings have actually collapsed in Lagos, we can say that we are not actually doing badly.
“However, the point remains that the inflationary rate in Nigeria and some certain things in Nigeria where people just believe that I need to make more money which is greed, has to be looked into. So, if the issue of greed is not addressed, more buildings will still come down because if you have projected that you are going to make so so amount of money from this project, and inflationary rate just blows up your plans and all of that, what are you going to do? You want to amend, you want to find a way to remain in business.
“For me, safety comes before prosperity. If people are not safe, how do you expect to make continuous income? Today, it is about high rise buildings, and to really address the issue of housing deficit in the country, we should concentrate on the construction of high rise buildings.
Some people are scared of high rise buildings because of the fear that they can easily come down. “The truth is that buildings don’t just come down. There is a reason buildings come down, and if these reasons are properly addressed, the issue of building collapse in Nigeria will be minimised.
The number one reason buildings collapse is the foundational issues. If the foundational issues are addressed, due diligence is carried out by the government which is the regulator, and the moment the government is regulating construction activities and not frustrating people, and safety of lives and property is assured, you will begin to see high rise buildings coming up everywhere across the country to address the issue of housing deficit.
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