Nigeria Lacks Clean Windows to Access International Property Funds

Fadekemi Ajakaiye

Nigeria lacks clean windows to access International Property Funds says Principal, World Citizen Consulting, Bill Endsley.

Endsley stated this at the 2 day event organised by FIABCI International Real Estate Consultant (FIREC) program held in Lagos recently.

This year’s FIABCI training on International Norms for Real Estate Investment is tagged Negotiation and multi-stakeholder dialogue, he said.

He stated that the idea is to train professionals in Nigerian and the property market, the international standards, so they can attract more funds direct investment to Nigeria and the property sector.

This is the 2nd edition, our expectation is to bring the professionals to a level of world class consultancy, to be able to access pension funds, as we are moving away from the oil and commodities economy, into world investment in property, he said.

There is already a big property market here, but it is not receiving the type of funds from outside Nigeria, he said.

He stated that billions of dollars are flowing into the property sector, but the lack of transparency about how the Nigerian property market works is not encouraging, and so investors are not putting their money here. So, we are saying, how can we increase the transparency, to make people feel comfortable coming here?

Once investors can price the risks, or get insurance, to feel comfortable transacting, then they will get involved. Right now, it is difficult for investors to price the risk, so the idea of clean windows, is required for investors to see inside, he said.

Aside lack of transaction data in Nigeria, we will be talking on property laws, qualifications of the professionals, banking sector; as all these come first before the property data, to access, international funds, he said.

This year we are dealing on cash flow analysis for properties. So, FIABCI Nigeria is interacting with Real estate professionals around the world. The context of FIABCI Nigeria and the Institute of Surveyors and Valuers can interact with other professionals, so they can have mentors and networking outside of Nigeria, he said.

FIABCI President, Mr Adele Adeniji, stated that the Chapter is in her pursuit towards ensuring that Real Estate Professionals are fully equipped to up the ante in our nation’s built Industry, while allowing them to compete with their contemporaries globally.

Our business world has become global and most especially, the Real Estate market has been internationalized. This has resulted in the need for professionals to carry out business with investors from diverse cultures and backgrounds making it imperative for professionals to figure out how to deal with these cultural differences in their negotiations, he said.

As a forward thinking organisation, we have included Negotiation and Multi-Cultural Dialogue as one of the training modules for this International Real Estate Certification program so as to teach us step-by-step techniques for avoiding common business negotiation pitfalls, he said.

Also, we understand the importance of finance for a successful real estate development or investment and this is why an expert in this area has been invited to further enlighten us on how to obtain real estate investment finance by using our property scorecard. This scorecard was initially compiled by CIPE – Centre for International Private Enterprise and our chapter has taken up the effort to continually revise this scorecard, he said.

As said by Abigail Adams, “learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardour and attended to with diligence”. I believe therefore that our presence here is an indication that we are all intentional about developing our expertise through learning, he said.

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