Sanwo-Olu blasts developers on incessant building collapse

The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has attributed the risk of building collapse in Lagos to real estate professionals who do not construct in accordance with state property laws.

Sanwo-Olu made this claim recently at a real estate summit that the Lagos Business School and the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers jointly organized.

The governor stated that Lagos was moving forward to find long-term solutions to the state’s housing problems. The governor was represented by Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Secretary to the State Government.

By 2035, there will be over 30 million people living in Lagos, the governor said, and given the state’s small geographical area, it would be difficult to provide cheap homes for the swarming population.

Sanwo-Olu stated: “It is important to note that the rising number of building collapses and demolitions documented indicates that practitioners are not adhering to construction codes, particularly with regard to building approvals, environmental standards, energy efficiency, and material quality.

Therefore, “the application of innovation and quality control strategies and technologies becomes necessary with the ongoing need for us as a government to continuously advocate, monitor, and enforce the extant regulations and standards.”

Keynote speaker Gbenga Olaniyan, Founding Partner of Estate Links Ltd., spoke on the theme of “Building for the future” and emphasized the necessity to comprehend the dynamic nature of the market before discussing the topic of constructing for the next generation.

Olaniyan stated that the greatest strategy for real estate was to “think long-term,” and he often emphasized the need for property professionals to base their decisions on factual data and statistics.

“Those who do not use Artificial Intelligence will find themselves out of business; therefore, it is our collective responsibility to become connected,” he declared. Since AI will undoubtedly play a role in construction in the future, we must learn about it before it surpasses us.

In addition, there were three panel discussions during the summit where professionals from the real estate industry talked about how innovation and quality control will affect the industry going forward.

The Head of Real Estate Finance West Africa at Stanbic IBTC, Tola Akinhanmi, said during a panel discussion that the previous ten years had seen fluctuating interest rates, which had a big effect on cross-border transactions.

In particular, when they are not making the necessary forex to cover such dollar obligations, he recommended local real estate players to avoid borrowing in foreign currencies.

In order to boost investments in the sector, concerns like appropriate land titling, tax laws, and easy fund repatriation must be resolved, according to Gbenga Ismail, Principal Partner of Ismail & Partners.

He argues that regulation ought to concentrate more on enhancing investor confidence because no investor would put money down without carefully considering the risks associated with such an investment.