House: Activities of Real Estate Developers Shrouded in Secrecy

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday said that little is known about the activities of the real estate developers, as it is shrouded in secrecy.

The House, therefore, mandated its existing Ad-hoc Committee on the investigation of the real estate developers to further investigate their operations nationwide with regards to the astronomical cost of such development and concerns about quality and conformity to initial land use, design and structural approvals and requirements.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance titled “Need to Investigate the Operations of Real Estate Developers in Nigeria” sponsored by the Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta).

Moving the motion, Elumelu noted that Nigeria has maintained its position with the most real estate development on the African continent for more than two decades.

He, however, said this sector is shrouded in secrecy, misrepresentation, quackery, bribery, incompetence, nondisclosure of information etc. due to lack of regulation and monitoring.

Elumelu said: “The growing population of about two hundred million Nigerians and the influx of people from the rural areas to the urban areas, this sector is over stretched. Real estate development means further economic growth as evident by the growing number of real estate developers in Nigeria causing ongoing rise in the price of homes and increasingly making housing unaffordable for most Nigerians, especially in cities like Kano, Rivers, Calabar, Lagos, Abuja etc. all of which are commercial hubs.

“Today Nigeria is faced with a lot of monumental disasters as cases of collapse building is on the rise (recent building collapse in Lagos state) as a result of poor quality materials, lack of necessary educational credentials, professionalism and non-adherence to ethical standard in this institution. Despite the operations of COREN, CORBON, Estate surveyors and Valuers, Quantity surveyors, Nigeria Institute of architects (NIA), Town planners, Mechanical and Structural Engineers etc, building collapse is on the increase.”

Adopting the motion, the lawmakers mandated the committee to liaise with all relevant agencies and stakeholders towards formulation of legislation to regulate the real estate sector.