The Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has given loud praise to the immediate past President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Rev Ugochukwu Chime for his unparalleled achievements during his tenure as President of the association.
Fashola, who was represented by the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria FMBN, Ahmed Dangiwa gave the commendation at the investiture ceremony of the new President of the association, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, stating that Chime has distinguished himself as a man of vision and excellence by repositioning the association to make meaning impact in the housing sector.
“I must commend the outgoing President and his executives for their tremendous efforts and sense of purpose for making REDAN what it is today. Rev. Chime is a man of intergrity, and his professionalism is outstanding. While he was at the helms of affairs, REDAN was able to achieve stronger relationship with stakeholders through his collaborative efforts. The determination of the Rev. Chime-led executives paved way for the incoming President and his team who will consolidate on this in order to achieve the goals of the association.”
Chime, a surveyor by profession, is the 3rd president of REDAN and took over from Mr. Olabode Afolayan, the 2nd president of the Association in 2015. His 5 years tenure as REDAN president witnessed tremendous success in terms of membership drive as for the first time, the association started to attract top figures in the Real Estate sector as a result of REDAN partnership with Special Control Unit for Money Laundering (SCUML). REDAN under the leadership of Chime, in partnership with SCUML was able to registere a real estate firm owned by the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote in November last year.
Chime’s achievement is also remarkable in the succession plan of the association as his leadership reviewed the REDAN Constitution on the 27th February 2018 with the inclusion of the succession programme/plan, which gave REDAN a clear succession plan for its presidency position, wiping out the usual tension, discord and rancor always experienced between supporters of the winner/loser of REDAN election.
In the past, disputes always arise during the election of President, Deputy President I (DP1) and Deputy President II (DP2) and has led to continued disunity, which eventually hampered the growth and development of the Association.
However, the immediate past President’s tenure birthed better collaboration between stakeholders in the housing sector as well as the creation of business development unit in the Secretariat to see to the welfare and growth of the members’ business, products and services.
Another great initiative of Rev. Chime’s administration is the proposed Real Estate Regulation & Development Bill is and the commencement of REDAN House, which he launched a proposed site for REDAN permanent secretariat located in Abuja and commenced work towards the fulfillment of the multi- million naira project.
In his 5 years successful tenure, the astute real estate developer has created an environment for synergy amongst stake holders in the built industry to harmonise existing data for effective development of the industry.
Rev. Chime had also among his numerous achievements, put up effort towards availing data for the real estate industry and effectively mediate between developers and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on loans issues. He advocated for members with the national assembly on various matters, including the petition on developers along Abuja airport road; created synergy with artisans by partnering with C-Stemp to train and educate them to become skilled and certified workers.
As part of His numerous achievemens, came up with “REDAN building EXPO” as an initiative for developers to showcase products, just as he collaborated with financial regulatory institutions and got REDAN a status of a Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO), introducing capacity development and building trainings to exposed developers to the social Pros and Cons of doing business.
As a technocrat, he worked tirelessly to ensure members of the real estate value chain at all levels are in consonance with each other to ensure relative affordable housing delivery, working closely with financial institutions such as the FHF, NMRC, FMBN and the World Bank to ensure alternative suitable funding for real-time developers.
