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20 Tuesday. 26 June. 2012 Nlgo"aD 1'''bUDO
REDAN urges FG to fulfill promise on FMBN's N200bn recapitalisation F
OR the Federal Government not topayllpserv1ceto Us promise of reducing housing deficit. coming on the heels of the
Institution, Shelter Afrique. which In the next couple of week!;! would be making credll facilities avaUablc to real estate developel"!! In Conn
n :cent approval of a
of Insurance fund from
National Houslng Policy. the Real Estate Asaoclatlon of Nigeria (REDAN) has urged the Jonathan admlnlstratlon to (ulfill Its promise or n:capltallslng the Fedeml MortgageBankofNIger1a (f"MBNJ 10 lhe tune or N200 billion. Speaking with Property and En..,lron· ~nt In AbuJa. last week. REDAN PresIdent. Chid Olabode Afolayan. said FMBN. as the ·only organlsaUOn that we can rely on as an Institutlon thai Is assisting us In prOviding cheap fund to construct affordable housing. - was being challenged by Inadequacy of funding by the Federal Government (FGI. He revealed that since about 15 monlhs ago that the FG. through Vice President Namadl SamOO. promised a N200 billion lifeline to the FMBN. nothing had been heard. while further staUng tlml ·wlth this klndoratUlude.llwUlbe very difficult for us to develop as a nation, but we believe that If lhtngs are properly put In place, Il will go a long way In redUCing the housing denclL In the Interim. he said membera of the association were relytng on the take·off of Ihe agreement with a conUnenlal finanCial
credible Insurance companies. According to him . REDAN members were not able to access fund from Shelter Afrique because they were unable to draw down loans on the basis of facilities securlly alld bank gual'1lnty. But the REDAN boss disclosed that with the Signing of an agreement next month for opeolng of Shelter Afrique office In Lagos. all bottlenecks would be removed. Chler Afolayan was also optimistic that In a couple of months. REDAN. as a full-fledged profeSSional body, would noat Its own bank, stressing thai -we've appointed our co nsultants and In a couple of weeks the prospectus for the private placemenl will be out (or our members to Inject fund Into the InstltuUon-. The REDAN president. who was a member of the Drafi Review Committee on National Housing Policy. said the approval of the pollcy had gmnted the assoclaUon a fullnedge profeSSional status. -Now REDAN Is to be professlonallsed. Which means all membership certificates are already withdrawn and new ones arc to be Issued. We will set up a committee on this
Climate change to worsen hunger as UN's Riot20 ends
A
s leaders from more than 130 nations convened a United Nauons conference on sustainable developme.nt last week. a new research has shown that cUmale change will likely exacerbate hunger. The numt>erofundernourished women and young children could lncrease 20 per cent and affeci one of every nve within a decade because of climate change's Impact on food production, according to an analysls by the World HealLh Organisation (WHO) and other groups. Il has also been re\'ealed that today, one In seven or 495 million women and children under age five lack sumclent food; while the report furl her dlsclo~ed Ihat population growth would worsen the problem
Food security was a top lasue - a,long with poverty, energy shorlages and rain forest destruction - at last week's U.N. conference on SustaJnable Developmenl In RIo de Janeiro. Brazil. also known as Rl0+20 to mark the 20U1 anniversary of the InlUal Earth Summit. Dele· gates will try to l1egoUate commitments for spurring economic growth without harming the environment. The WHO analYsIs shows that of the 495 million women and children under age 5 Ivho are undernourished, 150 million live In Africa. 315 million In Asia and 30 million In LaUn America and lhe Caribbean. It expects about 465 million more will live In developing counlrles by 2020. boosting food demand.
which will come up with guidelines to cn-sure that the esscnce of professionalism Is embedded In the membership
of the association,· he 8sserled . With the new poUcy, he slated further that
to lhe National Building Code, we have to ensure that we promote the Publlc-Povate -Partnu-
have to do a lot of advocacy programmes to enlighten other stakeholders to play their own role In th.1! Inlerest of the seClor.
-From right. Chainnan. House q/Representatiues Committee on Labour & Produ.cthrity. HOItDurable Essfan Elcpenyon Ayl: E.ucutiue Director. Admin I Ag. Managing DfrecU1r, Nigeria SocfoJ lnsurunce Trust Fund' (NSlTf). Mr Ibrahim Wakawo. and Vice Chairman of the committee. Honourable Aminu Suleiman. during the committee. ooer7ightfunclion to the NSlTF in Ahuja. I'TlofCI:: Mat! Dm:rls AJIbaru!
Non-patronage by govt killing indigenous construction companies - Expert I
NDIGENOUS construcUon companies have the ability to build the economy of Nigeria because many of them belong to the small scale sector which ca.n employ more than 50 per cent of the naUon's workforce. This was the v1ew of a veteran construction expert and Managing Director of Bolyn Construction Company. Elder Rufus Bola Aklnro-Iabu, tn a chat with Properly and Enoiron -ment. hls1 ....'eek. According to Mr Aklnrolabu, In developed countries of the world. the bBckbone of the economy Is small scale and Indigenous compan-Ies. Including can s 1 r u c - t Ion cDmpanles. be~ause they;!,erve08slhedrlvel'!l or the economy and thereby reduce depen-
dence 0 11 foreign companles or products. thus Improving their Gross Domestic Products. ·Small scale busl nesses have the abUlty to employ over 50 per cenl of the economic workforce . This has really helped the growth of the economy of most of the developed countrIes of the world. But In Nigeria. more than 90 per cent of local Industries are dead. while many are struggling to survlve,Aklnrolabu disclosed . He also lamented the neglect of Indl genous conStructton companies In the scheme of things by corpomle bodies as well as the government. which he accused of patronising foreign construction companIes
In building structures and provl - dlng basic amenities at the expense of the Indigenous ones. -There Is a general belief that Ule east of building materials IlCCOUIlt for aOOul70 per «nt of Ule total cost of building. but It has also becn revealed that for the cost of building to be reduced, Indigenous companies must be patronised. However. the government as well as corpo rate companies. has not been patfonlslng indigenous construction companies. Thelr excuse Is onen that Indigenous companies are not good enough.· Mr AkJnrolabu disclosed. Bul the veleran conslructlon expert was quick to dismiss this Dation. while InSiSting
thllt there were mllny good IndigenOUS companles III the country. stressing that the government and other bodIes were rather not ready to look Inwards 10 make use of such companies. He opined that as the way forward, Indigenous companies, Including construcUon companies must be encouraged to fonn assoctaUons with a view to standardizing their products so as to attract government and corporate bodies' patronage, a development he sald was prevalent during Preslden! Olu-segun ObasanJo regime. "But afier ObasanJo's regime and up Ull now. nothing meaningful has happened In this regard,he lamented.
Lagosians groan as rain hampers road projects ~
ESIDENTS of many
paM of Lagos have
TIed out In the face of the hardshIp they are being made to undergo based on varIous ongoing road construction and rehabIlitation errorts In variOUS parts of the state which have been aggravated by rains. When Property and Erwironnumt went round various parts of Lagos, especially places that were having one rorm of road cort5trucUon or the other after the down pours recorded In Ihe state, lasl week. many reSidents. Including
motorIsts as well as pedeslrlans were seen having a dlmcult time Dndlng their way to their various desUna·Uons as a result of the condition of vartous parts of thclr roads which were at dtfferenl stages of completion and whose condition had been made worse by the rains. For example. an InveStigation by Pro perty and EnvlrDn ment revealed that at the ever busy Ago· Palace way In Okotl.l. Ihe ongoIng road rehabilitation Bnd expansIon project being carried out by a foreign construction
company, CCECC. had made life difficult for denl7.ens or Ule area. This was evident In tile wsy motorists as well as pedestrIans spend usdul man-hours struggling to ply a road tbllt had been taken over by dug trenches, partIally covered dmlnages. giant slabs. and enormous construction machinery which the construction compan-Ies were uslng In the project. Some resldenlS lamented to Property and Environment, that the hardship Ihey were made to race by the ongoing proJec~
would have been mini mal If It was being carried out during the dry season. as the puddles caused by rainfall had aggrava·ted the whole situation. -Usually road works are supposed to be done during dry seasons, but In thls case the contrac· tors have apparently decided to do theirs In the rainy season. TIlls has not only served as a cog In Ihe wheel of their progress, II has also made things messy and untidy. TIlere Is hardly anywhere you turn to without findtng muddy porUons and puddles.