The Managing Director of the Next City Realtors and Services Ltd, organizers of the Ibadan Housing Fair has expressed the interest and the confidence of the company to open up the city of Ibadan especially the suburban areas for optimum development and 21st century real estate best practices. This according to him will help towards harnessing and exploring the huge potentials in Ibadan
Mr Shodimu who stated this during a chat with our reporters, underscored his passion for the development of the southwest region, with housing and real estate as a major irreducible factor towards achieving this goal. He expressed confidence that with adequate partnership with developers and bankers and exhibitors, a lot can be achieved in reducing the housing deficit that the city and indeed the country is currently going through.
The organizers of the Ibadan housing fair, the first of its kind in the country is geared towards bringing the active participants in the housing sector such as the mortgage banks bank, developers, and other actors in contact with the people so that active and relevant questions can be asked and problems can be solved towards achieving a good healthy and affordable housing for not just civil servants and government officials but also for low income earners and students.
He lamented the present condition and situation in which houses and housing units are priced out of the reach of middle ad low income earners who cannot afford mortgage to buy the houses built buy government with such houses ending up being procured by government officials and politicians.
On why the city of Ibadan was chosen for the fair, Mr Shodimu noted that Ibadan being the political capital of the southwest holds a strategic position to the development of the southwest. For him, Ibadan is essential to the socio economic and political advancement of the Southwest region of the country because of the history in not just political development but also economic development especially in terms of real estate development. He lamented the dearth of infrastructural development in the city, questioning why the region has not gone past the achievement of the 1st republic political leaders. The Cocoa House as a reference point was built by the late Obafemi Awolowo, noting that no building, save in Lagos, has been built by successive government to compliment and develop on the legacy of the cocoa house. He opined that this is as a result of the lack of research, innovation and the quest hunger and ability to think out of the box by our political leaders as well as private investors and entrepreneur
One major aspect of the drive of the Next City Realtors and Services Limited, the organizers of the Housing fair, is to help open up the city of Ibadan especially the suburban areas such as Amuloko, Elebu,…. so that such places can experience rapid development. According to him Ibadan seems very congested as more people are located within the city centre and around, as such, opening up the rural areas around the city will help to reduce rural–urban migration and by so doing drive investment and infrastructural development to such areas. He cited the Maroko, in Lagos, as an example of how a rural community can be transformed into a developed urban settlement.
To achieve the affordable housing goal, the company in partnership with some stakeholders, is working on bringing out alternatives to the current building materials being used to build houses. The costs of these materials are part of what make the cost of erecting a good structure expensive in Nigeria. Thus with an alternatives to the current materials being used, efficient, effective and pocket friendly houses can be made available for people.
He expressed confidence that with the support to the state government and other relevant agencies, the current housing deficit in the city and the state can be reeduc3e to the barest minimum. This will help propel investors to the state so that the huge underlying potentials in the city and the state can be harnessed.
The Ibadan housing fair comes up on the 17th and 18th of August 2018 with the Vice President of the Federation, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and the Oyo State Governor Sen. Abiola Ajimobi and other prominent stakeholders billed to be in attendance.
The Ibadan Housing fair is the first of what is going to be many fairs that will cut across all states in the southwest region of the country.
Report By Adefarati Abiodun and Victor Alagogooko for IbadanCity ANNOUNCER
