•Details Of The 3rd LAGOS Real Estate Market Place Conference
The 3rd Lagos Real Estate Market Place Conference and Exhibitions which was organised by Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA), took place last week 6th – 7th, December, 2022, at the popular Expo Hall, Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. The theme for this year’s edition is “The Lagos Real Estate Emerging Markets-Mitigating the Potential Risks.
This is one of the few real estate events where top real estate players, real estate stakeholders, and various government parastatals will make themselves available including the governor of the state.
This year’s edition lived up to the billing, as governor of the state, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was ably represented by his deputy, Dr Kadri Hamzat. Also in attendance are: Mrs.Toke Benson-Awoyinka (convener), Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, Hon. Commissioner for Housing, Lagos State, Hon. Rasheed Makinde, Chairman, Committee on Housing, etc.
The anchors of the beautiful event was popular event anchor, Gbenga Adeyinka and Mojibade.
Shortly after the needed introduction, the event started with the opening speech by Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka.
MRS. TOKE BENSON’S WARNING TO REAL ESTATE PLAYERS
Hear her: The S. A. to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson – Awoyinka gave the opening speech. In her speech, she admonished the industry players. One: “One major potential risk involving the Real Estate Market is identifying the REAL Stakeholders of this Market, and in doing this, there must be a process to effectively Monitor activities of operations towards development of the sector.”
“As professional/stakeholders in Real Estate, I believe that this market must be rebuilt so that investors/ investees confidence can be restored and to ensure that the state government’s vision of making 21st Century Economy conforms to the international best practices in the Real Estate and not be a stand-alone in the market”.
“The risks of losses in the sector can be curbed if the individuals/organizations that are operating in the Real Estate will register with LASRERA so that fraudulent practices can be reduced to the barest minimum”.
The 3rd edition of the Lagos Real Estate Market Conference and Exhibition, was an eye opener to many people who witnessed the programmme, as many real estate issues were raised and solutions were immediately provided.
During the event, there were panel sessions where top real estate players and government agencies were called on stage to deliberate and proffer solutions to issues mostly affecting the sector. The topic for the first-panel session is “Stemming the tide of building collapse in Lagos State.”
General Manager of Lagos State Testing Laboratory (LSMTL) Engr. Olufunsho Elulade, General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Arc. Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, DG Lagos State Safety Commision (LASG Safety) Mr. Lanre Mojola, Chairman, Panel of Inquiry into Ikoyi Building Collapse Mr. Olytoyin Ayinde, MD/CEO, Megamound Investments, Otunba Olumide Osunsina, while Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, moderated them.
WHY PROPERTY PLAYERS MUST DO THE NEEDFUL
Mr. Oki, LASBCA boss says: most of the buildings the Lagos State government demolished in the last few months are due to the negligence of people, leaving the building to be dilapidated and that’s why Lagos State government established LASBCA.
According to him, “If you want to build, first, get your building plan approval. Once you get the building plan approval, you then request for authorisation and the reason for authorisation is that, it doesn’t mean you will or must start your project immediately you get your approval. Some take couple of months to start. So when you want to start that project, you must write LASBCA that you want to start it and while doing that, there are some documents expected of you to submit. Some of the third parties to these developers aren’t doing what they should do while submitting these documents. Like insurance for instance. Something happened this morning at an on going construction of about 6-7 storey building. An object fell off from the 4th floor on a boy at another site and the boy died immediately. This is why we insist on getting insurance for your building project. It doesn’t have to be 3, 4 storey building before you can get insurance.
“When you have insurance and other documents that’s expected of you, that’s when you can move to site. The LASBCA office is filled with different professionals, from geologies to architects. The geologists are there to ensure the proper use of soil tests and to know that the soil test that is given to you from the Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory and I put it to some of you here that you doctor this report. And at the end of the day, an engineer builds on a doctored soil test and we say we are not going to have the building collapse. Why do we have to doctor the report?”
IKOYI BUILDING COLLAPSED COS OF STUDENT ARCHITECTS
The Chairman, Panel of Inquiry into Ikoyi building collapse, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde was also engaged in the interactive session. He was asked to reveal what he found out at the Ikoyi building collapse. Was there insurance on the project? “Everything that could go wrong, went wrong on Gerard road building collapse. There was nothing in place. The display board or project board that should have shown the professionals handling the project, the architect, engineer, mechanical electrical, the structural engineer, all of them had the same phone no leading to the developer. Even the architects were students. They weren’t qualified but they got someone who was registered to sign for them. There was no insurance. There was no supervision. The building collapsed before it was built. And I think there was a video that went viral where the developer was saying he didn’t need professionals because professionals make projects more expensive.
THE GOVERNOR OF LAGOS, MR BABAJIDE SANWO-OLU’S SPEECH
Governor Sanwo-Olu’s speech was delivered by the Deputy of Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Hamzat, who represented the governor of Lagos State. Below are excerpts of the speech.
“As a government, we owe it a duty to safeguard investments of people who may be unaware of some unprofessional practices in the market. The need to restore public confidence to this sector led to the establishment of the Lagos State Real Estate transaction in Lagos State to protect the citizens and investors from the potential risks emerging in the market.
The agency has defined minimum operational standards and guidelines for citizens to abide with. The guidelines provide a comprehensive checklist for the citizens to correctly identify and have competitive list of registered individuals/organizations to avoid doing business with unregistered Real Estate practitioners in the system.
We can’t talk about risks in the real estate sector without mentioning the violation of principles of transparency and Real Estate Laws. These to a greater extent, are major potential risks in this sector.
It is a fact that government, through its regulatory agency, LASRERA, cannot do this alone considering the huge real estate transaction going on in different parts of the state, hence the need for joint monitoring of this sector to curb quackery and unlicensed operators”.
“It is my belief that the Real Estate market can be floodgate of economic prosperity to the state and stakeholders when potential risks are minimum in this sector.
I plead with Lagosians and everyone interested in real estate business to be cautious in any financial transaction they engage in by fact checking the track records of the organisations they are dealing with to ascertain if the individual/organization is registered with LASRERA and other relevant government agencies in the built sectors.
As I end this address, let me reassure Lagosians that our resolve to commence the monthly rentals payment has not been jettisoned. We have returned to the drawing board to re-examine the appropriate timing and best strategy that can be adopted to make the policy sustainable.
I congratulate the Special Adviser on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, Management and members of staff of LASRERA for organizing yet another successful conference. I also thank all stakeholders in the Real Estate Sector here present for your yearly attendance at this gathering to deliberate on the path towards achieving a 21st Century Economy in Lagos State through the Real Estate sector”.
Also on the panel session, day 2 were Chinua Azubike, CEO, InfraCredit, Doseke Akporiaye, Managing Director, Nigeria Oolu Solar, USA & Africa, Muyiwa Akinyemi, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Group, Eyo Ekpo, CEO Extradite Consulting, Ownen Inyang, CMO & Co-founder of Justandout, Chuks Umezulora, MD/COO Auxano Solar, Andrea Geday, Co-founder/Managing Director Elalan Construction Company, Habeeb Alebious, Chief Executive Officer, Viathan Engineering Limited. They also spoke about the challenge and solutions to energy.
TOP REAL ESTATE FIRMS WHO MADE MARKS
Prestigious Homes, Radiantlife Property, Adron Homes, Revolutionplus Property, Elalan Company, Megamound, GREE Airconditioner, Knightfrank, NMRC, BuyLetLive, FWC, PWAN Group, Lagos homs, Address Homes, Zylus Homes, LSDPC, Wemabod, UPDC, Remaxrealtors etc, while Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi and Oba Gbolahan Abdulwasiu of Iruland, stormed the venue on the second day.
– Isaac Abimbade
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