By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
Real estate entrepreneur, Amb.(Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo, has commended the forex policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying it is working but urged the President to also focus on sustaining the improving Naira value against the dollar.
Adeyemo expressed the confidence that the Nigeria’s economy will bounce back to the path of prosperity if the Naira value appreciation could be sustained for the next six months to a level where N1,000 exchange for a dollar.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian top – notch real estate firm behind Pelican Valley Estate Laderin Abeokuta, Pelican Valley’s Brief Estate, Pelican Ecostay Apartments and Pelican Greenish Acre Farm Estate at Kobape corridor of Ogun State, urged Nigerians to be patient and not expect overnight drop in prices of most items in the market or the forex to fall.
He explained that it will take a little while for the economy to recover from the forex policy shock and oil subsidy removal, stressing that if it keeps fluctuating, up and down, it wont augur well for the economy.
Adeyemo, who is an ECOWAS Youth Ambassador, made this position known on Thursday at The Podium within Pelican Valley Estate Laderin while fielding questions from reporters shortly after Boseri, a Yoruba language newspaper, bestowed the prestigious OBA AWON ABULE SOWO ILE YORUBA title on him.
He expressed the concern that given the nation’s challenging economy amid inflationary trend, access to affordable housing will no longer be practicable for the low income earners, also warning that the situation may worsen the country’s housing deficit.
The real estate entrepreneur, however, suggested a number of measures the government could adopt to address it.
He said the government should tackle bad economy, inflation, identify credible real estate entrepreneurs and support them with single digit interest credit facilities and make land available for them to build low cost housing for the Nigerians of low income brackets to access.
He noted that the government has no business being in business, saying the government’s mandate concerning an economy is provision of an enabling environment for businesses to sprout and thrive.
According to him, it will take about 20 or 30 years of meticulous planning and execution for the nation’s housing shortfall to go away.
On the title bestowed on him, Adeyemo commended the newspaper and the management team for singling him out for the honour, assuring that he would continue to sustain the goodwill, integrity, character and trust both in personal life and real estate business that earned him the OBA AWON ABULE SOWO ILE YORUBA award, promising to support journalism continually, describing it as a profession that sharpened and gave him mileage before venturing into real estate business as his second address.
He said, “The best the Federal Government can do now is to work on the economy of which I believe the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing his best to control the foreign exchange rate, it is right step in the right direction, by the time they are able to sustain the forex and bring it down drastically, the economy will adjust from the shock. We can’t expect a magic overnight to bring down the forex within one, two or three months, it can’t automatically bring down the prices of good and services.
“They need to sustain the downward trend of dollars. If they make it N1,000 to a dollar and they’re able to sustain it for six months, automatically things will start to adjust but if it keeps fluctuating up and down, it will just be like having a power source that is fluctuating, your Air-conditioning will not function because AC doesn’t work with fluctuating power supply but once you are able to regulate that power supply and it is balance, you wait for another ten minutes, the AC will adjust and bring a cold temperature in the room. So, we are still in the process of adjusting the fluctuation. We can’t expect the room to be cold or chilled immediately.
“We just have to urge the government to maintain the downward trend of the dollar for the economy to bounce back fully. It is still a long distance dash for us. As the government is working on the economy, it needs to also look out for people that have integrity and character in the real estate business, the real estate entrepreneurs who have integrity, prudence, and character and channel some funds to them by way of support or assistance so that they can build low income housing for low income earners and Nigerians who are in need of shelters to access.”
Continuing on factors making affordable housing in the country appeared like mere wishful thinking, the multiple awards winning real estate practitioner said, “The real estate entrepreneurs or the government are not the manufacturers of cement, iron and they don’t own quarries and once those inputs or building materials are on the high side, there is no way you can get an affordable housing unless you want to experience building collapse. Building is garbage – in – garbage out. If you don’t want building collapse, it means you have to build to taste and quality. To build quality housing, you have to spend a lot, it is beyond expecting to buy a house when you are earning peanut as salary or income. It is not possible.
“So, that is why we need to work on the economy first. It is not a day thing. It is going to take like 20 or 30 years plan to accomplish and the FG can’t use all her funds meant for many other projects like education, health, agriculture, coastal road and channel all only to housing. And it can’t leave debt servicing obligations unattended to subsidize housing. You just have to live within what you have. And government has no business being in business. All it needs to do is to make land available to genuine real estate investors like us and give us light funding.
“For example, I started this business with less than N3million Naira 14 or 15 years ago and to the glory of God, we are where we are today. We have become a household name but it took me almost 15 years to get to this level because there was no luxury of funds, no access to fund, so I have to grow gradually and I didn’t want to approach a bank for killer – loan.
“So, with the support of government, if they can provide a single digit interest loan to people like us, the journey that took me almost 15 years, I would have been there in less than three years. And once you have that luxury of funds, we will be able to expand, have more housing and in the long run, it will reduce housing deficit in the country but once we don’t have that luxury of funds, you have to live within your reach and when you don’t have more housing in circulation, the housing deficit cannot reduce. It is not possible. Bad economy can’t make access to affordable housing practicable for low income earners.”
Earlier, the Publisher of Boseri, Mr. Johnson Akinpelu and professional colleagues – Mr Kunle Idowu, Mr. Johnson Onifade and Mr. Segun Ayinde in their separate remarks, said Dr Babatunde Adeyemo’s integrity, character, philanthropy and support for widows and the downtrodden, earned him the respected title, even as they prayed God to uplift him the more in his service to humanity and society.
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