Foremost human right activist and erudite lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) on Saturday called for full implementation of Nigerian Land Use Act so as to engender a proper ease of doing business in the Real Estate.
Falana who was a special guest at 2024 Global Property Conference made the call in a press interview on the sidelines of the event organised by Gtext Holdings held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He noted that with the full implementation of the Land Use Act and others, the bottle necks in the property business would be minimized. Government should make the Land Use Act work, because right now, it’s not working, buyers of properties are tied down to the blackmail of Omo Onile and so many others.
‘Government must make sure that investors have confidence to invest in Real Estate and if anyone have fears about buying landed property the confidence is not guaranteed. It now depends on the government to make the Land Use Act work, make the Urban and Regional Act work and to give people the assurance that nobody will harass them if they acquire properties legitimately. Right now it is a bit frustrating even having acquired properties building a house, some thugs will come and ask for money, right from foundation to the lintels to roofing of the house, ‘he said.
Falana contended that government holds the key to resolving the issues arising from property disputes and other attendant problems. ‘This is where government should come in to help so that the cost of acquiring properties will be cheap and affordable if there are proper enforcement of the laws. To protect land owners who have acquired their lands legitimately, we need government assurance because here, we go to the ministry of justice responsible for the land grabbing department. Right now the only thing those that go to the government for dispute resolution is to go there almost everyday and at last resort to go to court. What I will advise especially those that are frustrated is engage in mediation centre and if that is not working you can go to the court,’ he advised.
Falana also noted that issues arising from land disputes should be resolved in due time so as not to frustrate the investors. ‘As I have said there is a bill in the House of Assembly now to ensure that no single civil case will be in the docket for more than two years. This is good to hear and for tenancy matters it will not be allowed to last more than six months in court and for me, the Real Estate business is going a long way for confidence.
‘My suggestion to the upcoming Realtors is that they should not be in a hurry to get it. The young professionals in Nigeria are too much in a hurry, they should rather engage in partnerships. ‘The young ones should learn from those that are already in the business and learn the art of succeeding in business once they are able to do that they will succeed,’ he said.
The human rights activist added: ‘Integrity is key, to business and the young ones must ensure that they are not too much in a hurry to make money; it requires sacrifice and integrity. Financial and legal advices are also key they should familiarize with the the laws so that they can succeed..I will like to commend Gtext holding for the wonderful opportunity we have had today to cross fertilize ideas about Real Estate in Nigeria and globally. Integrity is watchword because then, our own environment is a bit hostile to Real Estate development from what we have gathered.’
‘The government is not helpful, so we need to make government help in reducing the high cost of building materials and registration of title documents and reducing the cost and time of registering documents,’Falana advised.
He noted that no country can develop without proper land documentation. ‘As I have said, 94 per cent of the properties in Lagos State are not registered and that is very sad for the country. We can imagine with all the enlightenment in Lagos State, and efforts, we still have such a number of unregistered properties in Lagos.’
‘Real Estate is a versatile area where the opportunities have no limit. Property development of properties all over the world is a lucrative business but we need to get it right, have contact. Potential investors also need to go for loans where the interest rate is low but not like Nigeria because nobody can cope with 30 per cent interest rate,’ Falana submitted.