A realtor, Ambassador (Dr.) Babatunde Adeyemo, has commended former president Olusegun Obasanjo for his initiative which led to the establishment of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) by his administration between 1999 and 2007.
Describing Obasanjo as a ‘philosopher and a great leader,’ Adeyemo said the NIMC initiative did not only create employment opportunity to many but more importantly, also keeps serving as a vital data bank about Nigerian citizens which is necessary resource material for critical decision making in the areas of security policy and crime fighting.
He gave the commendation on Saturday while counselling the retirees of the Ogun State office of the Commission on real estate and the need to channel their resources towards worthwhile investment in the sector while it is still day time.
Adeyemo, who is the Managing Director of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, a foremost real estate firm behind Pelican Valley Estate, Pelican Brief Estate, Pelican Ecostay Apartments and Pelican Green Acres Farm Estate – all located along Abeokuta – Kobape – Masa corridor of Ogun State, noted that NIMC patriotic role contributed to the nation’s success story in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements in the country.
Speaking on the topic: Real Estate Value Chain, he urged the retirees and others still in service not to wait until they were retired before setting out to invest in real estate, saying the experience of his father who was a civil servant had taught him an indelible lesson on why he should make hay while the sun still shines.
The award winning real estate practitioner was the guest lecturer on invitation by the Management and Staff of NIMC, Ogun State through a personal letter addressed to him and signed by the duo of Abayomi Folasade, Chairman Planning Committee and Lasisi Oladele, Assistant Director/Ag, NIMC Ogun State Coordinator.
He recalled that his father was retired prematurely after 27 years in civil service and at a time he had neither personal land nor house of his own to move into, explaining that the incident threw the family into a harrowing experience never imagined as they ran from pillar to post in search of a place to lay their heads.
Adeyemo said because of that bitting experience, he told himself that whenever he secured a paid job, he would make putting a roof over his head his first priority.
According to him, when he took up a career job in journalism, he fulfilled that personal ambition by building his house early and moved in straight from his father’s house without being a tenant.
He charged the NIMC to take advantage of the job stability in civil service to invest in real estate since the steady salaries they draw would enable them to endure long for the land to appreciate to a level where they will reap bumper gains on land.
Citing a plot of land at Pelican Brief Estate which was sold for N780K barely two years ago, he revealed that a plot of land at the site is now selling for N5m today, wondering what the price of a plot at the same estate would be in the next 10 years.
According him, a well guided investment in real estate if done early while one is in service, has the potential to bring returns later and at a sum far more than one’s gratuity and other retirement benefits put together.
