Firm calls for more regulation in sector, launches Ogudu Delight Estate

The government has been advised to formulate more regulations, supervision in the real estate sector to curtail fraudulent activities in the industry.The MD/CEO of Gafford Property and Homes, Gbadebo Olamerun, made this call at the groundbreaking ceremony of Ogudu Delight Estate, 14 units of four bedrooms duplex, fully detached, and semi detached apartment.

The concept is to build smart homes within the neighbourhood and continue to solve the housing challenge and deficit in the country.Olamerun urged the government to continue to provide an enabling environment for the sector to continue to thrive, while commending the Lagos and Ogun governments for their support in the sector.

He said the supervision of the sector is germane and if properly intensified, the value proposition of the real estate will increase.

“The supervision will enable them (the government) to weed out those engaging in fraudulent activities. The government cannot do the supervision alone.

“In Lagos alone, there are 100s of 1000s of houses that are under construction. What is the workforce of Lagos state government? How many are in the workforce of Federal Governments? But I must commend Lagos State, my association which is the association of registered real estate owners are in partnership with Lagos to provide succour and solution to these problems going forward,” he said.

He added that those in the sector should imbibe the culture of professionalism and integrity while dealing with their clients. Olamerun added that it was time Nigerians embraced smart homes, noting that the benefits are multi-dimensional as it covers areas of security and how to avert domestic accidents.

“The importance of smarthomes is multi-dimensional. One is security, if you’re staying in a smart home, right from your office, you can see everything within the nooks and crannies of your house. We see all over social media, how some nannies maltreat little children. Some children are being killed. But when your nanny knows there is a camera all over the house, the Nanny sits right.”

African Democratic Congress (ADC) senatorial candidate for Lagos Central Senatorial District, Yomi Idowu, commended the initiative behind the Ogudu Delight Estate, noting that it would tackle the housing problem in that area.

He said: “This is what we need in Nigeria because we need more houses for people. A lot of Nigerians don’t have homes of their own. There are policies by the government but there is no enforcement. We have mortgage policies but the banks are not releasing the money.”

“We are too much of a cash economy, but we should be an economy that is driven by credit because many of the developed economies are credit economies. And we can never develop with a cash economy.”

Also speaking, an investor, Basorun Ekeh, said: “The first thing the government should do is to make sure that our mortgage system becomes very effective to give opportunity to low income earners to enjoy the benefits of owning their own house through a system called split payment.”