Segun James
The Group Managing Director, CFL Group, Mr. Lai Omotola, has lamented the refusal of commercial banks to fund real estate projects, blaming it on the uncertain nature of the business.
Omotola, currently running a foremost infrastructure development company, has lamented that most police stations are inundated with land ownership disputes despite the directive of the Inspector-General that police cannot determine land ownership matters.
He expressed this concern at a session with journalists recently, noting that doing business in the federation could be quite challenging despite all the opportunities.
Concerned about funding of businesses, Omotola explained that almost all the banks shy away from funding real estate, citing uncertain nature of the business and harsh business environment as the major challenges responsible for it.
He said: “You secure funding from the bank and you are unable to move to site for month or during construction you encounter land disputes. These are the factors affecting bank funding.”
He lamented undue interference of police in land ownership matters, noting that most cases in police divisions “are now land matters despite the Inspector General’s directive that police can not determine land ownership, but these cases still find there way into police station under various disguise.
“The judiciary is the final arbiter in land dispute and sometime may take a long time. In recent time, however, we have seen the judiciary dispense land matters with speed and this should be encouraged.
“Finally, it is important that in 2021, we completed our prime Triangle Business Place at Lekki. We have also commenced construction of the Alade market after 11 years,” Omotola explained.
Omotola acknowledged the economy “remains vital to our welfare and indeed affects all aspects of our lives. What are the indices for our economy? Inflation is at 15.99 percent; exchange rate at N575 to dollar and GDP currently $440 billion.”
“Budget size is about N16trillion deficit with N6.3 trillion gulping recurrent expenditure, N6.8trillion personnel cost and N4.11trillion debt. Nigerian stock exchange capitalisation stands at N28.2 trillion.
“Nigerian oil still provides 95 percent of source of foreign exchange and 80 percent budgetary revenue. The growth of this economy is hinged on delivering infrastructure to aid economy. With all the efforts of present government economy continue to be on the nosedive,” Omotola explained.
He, therefore, urged the federal government to revive the economy by being pro-business, saying Nigeria “knows nothing about business. There is no company of the Nigerian origin that is a global brand or that strong presence in 170 countries of the world expects the church.
“If the church can do this then Nigerian businesses can do same but remains a tall order. The government needs to be pro-business in order to them to generate more tax and business social amenities.
“The size of the Nigerian stocks exchange should be N280 trillion. Our Budget for a year should be N180 trillion. This will drive down inflation and bring exchange rate to less than N50 to a dollar.”
He explained that 2022 “is a political year. It will be more of politics than economy. In fact, it has commenced already. To every succeeding government, there will always be liability and assets.
“In choosing our next leader, we must first appraise our last decision to vote and weigh if it has been good for us or not. The negative is the answer as a country and then ask ourselves how did we get here?”
