The Mayor of Housing, My-Ace China Commends The Rivers State Governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara For Sparking Housing Revolution In Rivers State
– Recommends how to create a housing boost in Rivers State.
DMOMA Awards estate and property investor has revealed how the present administration in Rivers State led by Governor Sim Fubara can turn around the real estate and property economy of the oil-rich state.
In doing so, the expert known as the Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, told newsmen at DMOMA award event in Port Harcourt that the administration would in the process create at least one million jobs in the sector in the next four years.
China was reacting to the contract signing to begin construction of 20,000 low-cost houses in the state between the state government and an investor under a public private partnership (PPP) deal last week.
China, who won awards in both Abuja and DMOMA Awards in Port Harcourt from different organisations as the Real Estate Personality of the Year 2023, itemized some steps and policy actions, he said Gov Fubara can initiate to open up a window by the private sector to push housing to a new level in the state and create up to one million jobs in the process.
The Rivers State governor also won 2023 DMOMA Awards Governor of the Year.
How to create a housing boost:
He said direct building of houses by government has never worked, but commended the PPP aspect of the project, though he observed that PPP is not enough safeguard for housing. He stated thus: “The greatest booster to solving the 28 million housing deficit in Nigeria is an enabling environment in the sector.
“In fact, the way President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is going around the globe looking for investors, it shows that the government leaders do not know that we have a large army of investors already in the country. These home-based investors face huge huddles in most of the sectors including housing.
“You will not imagine the setbacks and bureaucratic bottlenecks we face in starting a construction effort. Most times, those huddles lead to higher costs for the eventual houses because every huddle you overcome costs you more money and you have to recover the cost.”
As a way out, the Mayor of Housing pointed to ‘Ease of Doing Business (EODB) mechanism in the housing sector. He meant ease of documentation, ease of layout, ease of allocation, and tax incentives are given to well-known developers like us. “Believe you me, the result will be nothing short of a boom in the property and housing sector.
On his own suggestion, he showed how to conquer fear, saying: “The major thing is whenever you find fear, take action. Nothing wears fear down more than action. The more action you take the more you expand in capacity. What creates wealth is capacity, not money.
“If you check well, you will find that economic indices in the world, the more there is activity, the more there is wealth. When there is doom or gloom, that is when to take action.
“I have a quote that when others are learning how to crawl, that’s when you learn how to walk; so that when others start walking, you start flying. In dire economic times, the natural thing many do is to contract, but that actually is when to expand. Its like you see fire, you start running to avoid the fire. In economic terms, the way to run is not to run to other economic climes but to run into more productivity, more creativity, more action.”
China said if you were doing activity of 10 when the economy was good, now do activities of 30 and above so that you learn to survive in the difficult economy. “When the economy eases off, become better, you would have already built up the capacity to soar. It’s like buying shares (stock) when the prices are crashing. You gain when they rise.
“For people like us, when things become hard, that is when strong people step out, do things bigger. The only thing that kills fear is action, the only thing that kills big fear is massive action.”
Saying he was highly impressed by the 20,000 housing units project, the real estate success strategist reminded readers that he was one of the first to commend the governor upon the unfolding of his social housing policy on his inauguration day, May 29, 2023.
Credit: BusinessDay
