Real Estate Unite conference, awards debutsTHOUGH agreed that Nigeria needs to take pragmatic steps to reduce the nation's housing deficit, experts in the real estate sector have expressed different views on the technology to be adopted in addressing the housing challenge of Nigerians.While some canvassed the traditional methods of mortals and bricks with the use of artisans, others said, that method could be replaced with alternatives building materials to construct homes.The realtors aired their views at the media launch of the inaugural Real Estate Unite Conference and Awards, proposed to hold between September 13 and 14, 2012 Lagos, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island Lagos.Real Estate Unite will be the maiden edition of an international business-to-business event that seeks to host all aspects of Nigeria's real estate industry under one pavilion. It is designed to through conference, seminar and workshop expose the issues challenging Nigeria's real estate sector and offer practical solutions through the expertise and experiences of carefully selected panel of speakers within and outside shores of Africa.Speaking at the media parley, President, Nigeria Chapter of International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Mr. Kola Akomolede, said that any attempt to adopt alternative technology to housing provision would further heighten the tension within the sector rather than reducing it.Akomolede, an estate surveyor, said that alternative technology would render many engaged skilled and unskilled labour within the sector jobless, adding that it was better to keep the tradition of conventional method of building houses.'It is my believe that more policymakers specifically the ministers, should be at conferences like this to listen to international and professional solutions to our housing and real estate chagrin. They should not just send representatives who end up giving second hand reports. The solution to our problem is right under our noses we just need to take the right que.' Akomolede added.Nonetheless, FIABCI's chief, pledged the institution's support to the event, saying that it would join forces with any right cause to solving the nation's housing woes.He further urged Lagos government, which is the host state of the event to take hold of the opportunity of the conference, as deliberations from the vast number of speakers in the property sector would avail government with contemporary and vital insight into affordable housing provision in the state.But Nigeria's representative to UK's Department for International Development, support programme, DFID GEMS2 for the Construction and Real Estate Sector, Afolabi Imoukhuede, said that it was high time the stakeholders gave it serious consideration and adoption of alternative technology in mass housing scheme.He said that it was lamentable that Nigeria did not rank among countries that had successfully harnessed or institutionalised its housing potential.Imoukhuede, the intervention lead for DFID, said that the use of alternative technology would not cause job loss as being portrayed, but job boom as many of the conventional technicians would have to improve on their knowledge to keep abreast of development in the sector, not only in the country but globally.Nigeria, according to him needed to break in the BRICS group to make it BRINCS. 'Lots of solutions abound, however, the problem has been how to turn these solutions into action, which is one of the reasons why this conference is important. One of the reasons we are partnering with 3onlineinvest is that this conference crystallise with DFID's objective to significantly address the affordable housing quagmire. We believe that with the vast array of speakers all issues in the real estate sector will be covered,' Imoukhuede said.Earlier, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer 3Invest Limited, Ruth Obih, said that her company decided to stage the event in order to integrate all aspects of the sector. 'The objective is to integrate all aspects the real estate development cycle under one pavilion as it recognises the integral status of real estate in economic development.'The Real Estate Unite, Obih added, would culminate into a networking cocktail and gala night on the second day.According to her, the challenges in Nigeria Real Estate industry were finite and defined as often, Real Estate experts came together at different fora to discuss the challenges and proffer solutions that could help the industry occupy its place in the economic scheme of things. But in spite of several fora, the challenges had ironically remained not much worse, not much better.'With the theme of the event 'Jumpstarting Nigeria's Real Estate for Global Investment', we believe that when the developers are stating their challenges, the financial experts will take cue and the policy makers will also state their issues, so at the end of the event, we would have chatted a way forward, display our investment potential to the world and truly jumpstart our real estate.'We don't intend to restate that real estate can solve employment problem in Nigeria ' everyone knows that. Rather we intend to through our carefully selected speakers enunciate the fact that if policy, for example, works in the sector, houses can be built and when houses are being built, the industry providing the materials will get busy and employ more hands and so on. So our focus is to bring in Nigerian experts doing well outside the country and some within the country to come and split open these dialectics,' Obih stated.'This approach has been adopted because in our view, the real estate industry is an interdependent system where no particular section can function well without integrating with the other. We found that individual discussions and solutions as it has been the tradition over the years, has recorded marginal success and will still continue to be insufficient until concerted efforts, like the Real Estate Unite, are made to interlink the issues and forge a common front.'Among partners and sponsors for the Real Estate Unite conference includes, The Guardian Newspapers Limited, CNBC Africa, EDC Pan African University, UK's DFID GEMs, Meelk Property among others.Also speakers with major infrastructural and real estate expected at the event include, Mr. Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman, Global Infrastructure Partners, USA, Mr. Samuel Ogbu, CEO, Liberty Properties, South Africa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple, Edward Okpa, principal partner, The Okpa Company, Dallas, USA, Hassan Musa Usman, managing director, ASO Savings and Loans, Roland Igbinoba, president/CEO, Pison Housing Company, Chu'di Ejekam, director, Real Estate, Actis West Africa, Adeniyi Adeleye, Head, Property Finance, Stanbic IBTC Bank, West Africa, Yemi Edun, CEO, Daniel Fors, UK, Mrs. Maryanne Udo Okonjo, CEO, Fine and Country, Nigeria, and a host of others.
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