By Esther Alexander
The Executive Director of the Housing Development Advocacy Network HDAN Festus Adebayo has charged the minister for the Housing and Urban Development Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa to address consumer protection, and ensure that the issue of regulation is given a top priority in the sector.
This according to Adebayo can be achieved by creating a complaint desk and website in the ministry for real estate consumers to lodge complaints.
“I can report to you that a lot of people have fallen victim to real estate developers, nobody seems to be protecting the interest of consumers in the real estate sector. It is only in our country that we have real estate developers advertising properties without regulation”.
Adebayo gave the charge during the Stakeholders Agenda Setting Dinner organized by Housing Stakeholders for the newly appointed minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa on Thursday in Abuja.
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“As part of our commitment towards affordable housing in Nigeria, we will continue to engage stakeholders in all tiers of the industry like the National Assembly, National Bureau of Statistics, and Professional Bodies amongst others. I believe with the appointment of a minister who is also part of this advocacy, solutions are underway.”
Adebayo among other things tasks Dangiwa to look into the issue of building collapse, describing it as a menace that has eaten deep into the society both at home and abroad.
“We have to address this terrible disease that is affecting the reputation of our professionals, a lot of people outside the country now feel our professionals cannot handle high-rise buildings, this is so because quacks are in practice.”
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