By Olawale Lamina
An advocacy group, Housing Development Advocacy Network, HDAN, has commended the Nigerian Senate for the recent passage of the Real Estate Regulatory Council bill, noting that the bill when assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari will help sanitize the housing sector in the country and ensure compliance with the best practices as obtainable in developed countries.
In a statement by HDAN Executive Directort,Mr. Festus Adebayo, the group commended the Senate leadership, the sponsor of the bill, (former Sokoto State governor),Senator Aliyu Magatarkada Wamako for championing the bill.
Speaking further, he said: ‘’ We also want to commend the Senate President and the entire member of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for coming together to ensure that the bill sailed through on the floor of the Senate. HDAN President made a particular reference to Professor Akin Mabogunje whom he credited for advocating housing development regulations in Nigeria.
He noted that the bill, when passed into law will help reverse the negative trend in the country whereby, “once you have money, you can just enter into real estate business. Even if you don’t have money you can go into the real estate and be scamming people. We are in a situation where nobody is protecting anybody, not even the subscribers are protected.”
He decried the abuse which pervaded the sector for long where rules are constantly bent, stating that the situation is not the same in other sectors that are regulated, citing the case of pure water production and argued that no one is permitted to operate except with the approval of NAFDAC as a regulatory body.
HDAN Executive Director expressed confidence in the ability of President Muhammadu Buhari to give a speedy assent to the bill with a view to promoting sanity in the sector through relevant regulatory frameworks.
He stated that his body had gone through the bill and currently “working assiduously in collaboration with Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, REDAN and other professional bodies that are involved, including government agencies, like the EFCC to ensure that the sector is safe and protected for investment. He disclosed that the bill was presented at the national assembly two years ago under Rev( surv) Ugochukwu chime and so we are very pleased that the present redan leadership has made the bill their priority. According to him all professional bodies in Nigeria’s construction industries are allocated responsibilities in the bill.The bill is not aimed at taking any one’s job.
He said: “This is one thing that Professor Akin Mabogunje who had just celebrated his 90 years birthday fought for several years ago, for the sector to be regulated. I am sure that he will be happy that at last the real estate sector is going to be professionalized and regulated at last.”
He recalled that the bill in question is not a strange development, as he noted that Lagos State happened to be the first state in the country to regulate the real estate sector . “There is today an agency that regulates the flow of transactions and activities in Lagos real estate sector. But we are asking for the improvement of lagos version at the national level that will have the involvement of all the professionals in the construction industry .It had been done in Ghana, Kenya, India and most advanced countries have their regulatory bodies for the real estate and housing business”
HDAN observed that the purpose of the bill is to govern the interplay of the various stakeholders in the industry and expressed delight that the bill states clearly how things should be done ,who should do what in relation to what matter.
The statement added: “HDAN therefore called on other professionals in the construction and housing industry to support the bill in order to bring an end to rivalry among practitioners in the sector.”
The body expressed the hope that President Buhari, based on his pedigree as a transparent leader will give the bill a speedy assent to become a law.
The Housing Development Advocacy Network,(HDAN) is an NGO at the forefront of promoting and championing the development of Housing / construction industry and affordable housing in Nigeria.
