An 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 his 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 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.
Read also: Mayor of Housing shows how Rivers can push 20,000 to 200,000 low-cost houses
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.
He pointed at his firm, The Construction & Housing Mayor Limited, as an example of those people managing to crawl against the tide, saying when the government turns the tide in their favour, they will not only fly, they will do wonders.
He pointed what he said Fubara can do and attract over 200,000 houses built by the private sector within the same period. “Every private investor is driven by three things: ease of doing business in that location, security of doing business in that location, and support of the powers that be in that location to show that your business is ensured. The moment these three factors are in place, the location or the sector will witness a boom.”
On what Nigerian can do in the face of harsh economic realities to pull through, the Mayor of Housing noted that it was true that men of excellence and award winners should come up with suggestions to save Nigeria.
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.
Read also: Fubara in coded replies, says he is determined to achieve dreams of Rivers people
“The governor has now activated the necessary policy action to implement it.
“We have been curiously and eagerly waiting for how it would be implemented. The houses are important but the model or process to the accessibility of the houses is even more important. There is need to see behind the housing scheme a self-auditing, self-sustaining and self-duplicating and fool-proof system to people to have access to these houses. If the process has these mechanisms, the administration would know that it has not only provided houses but it has created a system to continually provide houses in the state. It would start a chain reaction of houses from the private sector. I am eagerly awaiting and I am elated.”
Ridicule vs trust: a driving force:
The real estate success strategist told newsmen how a combination of ridicule and trust turn to his driving force.
“Two things drive me; Ridicule and Trust. It may interest you to know that I read Medical Laboratory Science (Best graduating student, UNN). Most of my school mates are abroad working, and the notion is that those of us who chose to stay home will never make it. The ridicule it brings; that you won’t make it if you stayed in Nigeria. The ridicule of the naysayers that it is not possible drives me. And the trust of a few Nigerians, the early birds that trusted me, the few Diasporans that came back to Nigeria and said, look, I trust this process. These are people that made others eat their words. These motivate me. So, ridicule on one hand, and trust on the other hand, that’s what motives me.”
Between company brand and his personality:
The Mayor of Housing won the brand of the year in 2022 and 2023, back-to-back, but he won as a personality of the year in the housing sector.
Explaining the difference, China, a UNN best graduating student in medical laboratory science, said: “The person behind the brand determines the quality of the brand. Ultimately, every business venture in the world would rise and fall on the personality of the personnel controlling it. It was Mary Kay that said every company is as strong as the personnel behind it.”
Last year, he went on, the organisers dug deep and discovered the brand, which is the Mayor of Housing. “This year, they dug deeper and discovered the personality behind the brand, thus ‘The Personality of the Year Award’. It is only coincidental that the brand won again and the personality also won this year, showing that there is something unique about both the brand, Mayor of Housing, and the personality behind it, My-ACE China. That means what we are doing is right, we are getting it right.”
After collecting the first award, he said: “I am usually challenged by these awards but today I am rather humbled. This is because the man that just stepped out of the podium, Dr Odoh, was my first-ever medical director at Meridian Hospital in Port Harcourt. He is my boss. Many do not know I am a medical lab scientist (UNN), and I worked with Meridian Hospital ever before I started my internship in the Uniport Teaching Hospital when it was still in the Town area of Port Harcourt.”
He said the chief medical director of Meridien Hospital taught him that business is the determining factor in anything one does.
On genuineness of the awards, he said; “DMOMA group is different. I have watched this them closely for some few years and I have found their drive for merit and a determination to find out the actual persons driving each sub-sector where the hidden value is.
“I get a lot of awards and so I do not get flattered by them but by people trying to ferret out persons of value. One of such organisations doing this is DMOMA group. They have the character, diligence, and integrity to drive thus process. For them to fish me out, I am humbled.”
About Port Harcourt and reputation capital, he agreed with a known comedian, KO Baba, that demarketing Port Harcourt was not good for the growth of the oil city. “I am one of those fully committed with my resources, my sweat and blood, to get Port Harcourt as the Garden City back on the global pedestal.”
A lot of good things happening in Port Harcourt are not being reported, he said. “Before, it was Lagos and then Port Harcourt. Now, its all about Lagos, Abuja, other places, then Port Harcourt. This is one of the reasons we will not fall short on that vision of promoting Port Harcourt and making it the place of value.”
After collecting his second award, the Mayor of Housing said there is only one promise he has for Port Harcourt. “What you see at the moment is brand perception. We have so far been projecting an image to Port Harcourt people. By the first quarter of 2024, we are starting to showcase our brand experience. We are one of real estate companies in Nigeria that play at both the top and bottom of the value chain.”
He hinted about a new Banana Island coming up in Port Harcourt, and that their mission is to cut short and completely eradicate the Lagos versus Port Harcourt dichotomy in quality and excellence.
“I won’t lie to you, doing business in Port Harcourt is not easy because actually the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in Lagos and Abuja is far better, but we are going to show those people running away from Port Harcourt that there is something good here. We want to show that they will run back here, and that would be when we have far exceeded and succeeded.
“We are starting a luxury estate. The men standing here on the podium are board members in our venture at Alesa in Eleme called the Alesa Highlands. We are also going to launch our low-cost housing estate later. What makes us unique is that we do not do ‘copy and paste’. When we say low-cost housing, we mean we have done research that will make the construction actually low-cost. By March 2024, the actual brand experience will begin.”
Read also: Operators see innovation, quality control as growth drivers in real estate sector
On what the award means to him, the personality of the year said it means everything to him because DMOMA is a brand he has followed over the years. “There are a lot of groups peddling awards, but DMOMA is different. I found it out last year when I won Brand of The Year Award. I was pitched against global and major brands, but because I was found to have delivered more value that year than any other, I won it.”
He said that was when he began to suspect that these guys were credible. “So, when they called me this year again that I have been voted in again by their followers, I was super excited because it is one award, I don’t mind winning every year. They do due diligence well to give award.”
In life, he observed, whatever you reward, you cause to happen again. Whatever you overlook, you make it diminish.
We want to rebrand Port Harcourt to attract investments – DMOMA award convener:
The chief convener of the DMOMA Award series, Chidiebere Stephen Okoye, in his welcome remarks, said the awards were created to spur those doing good in Nigeria with emphasis on the south-south & South East. “It is to attract attention to this zone, though winners come from anywhere in the world.”
He said they began small but now attract nominations from Kenya and even Israel. “We appreciate the huge interest this effort has attracted from well-meaning people across Nigeria. Our pledge is we will not disappoint those who have come to trust us. We commend all award winners this year.”
Christie Toby, wife of the one time deputy governor of Rivers State, Gabriel Toby, said for her group of schools to be identified and given award was evidence that the process was genuine.
The Mayor of Port Harcourt, Allwell Ihunda, in his acceptance speech, said he accepted because the process was genuine and unique, saying this is a time Port Harcourt is doing very well and our people are rallying behind us to build a great city with a big legacy.
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