The Oyo State Government says it is set to regulate the activities of real estate developers, as part of the second term agenda for Sustainable Development of Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration.
This was made known in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dotun Oyelade.
According to it, the Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr Williams Akin-Funmilayo, disclosed this in a meeting with real estate developers held at the state Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
Akin-Funmilayo observed that development is part of efforts to guard against bad eggs among the developers, saying one of the components of the present administration is to ensure the urbanisation of the state.
The Commissioner said the state government had been duly informed by several innocent victims who had been duped by the bad eggs among the developers, stressing that the government was taking the bull by the horns by registering practitioners and not letting dubious real estate developers take advantage of its people.”
He said; “They cannot be operating in the state without knowing them as a custodian of land in the state, which will equally protect their interest. It is essential for government to know who is who in the real estate business in the state. We should work hand in hand to achieve same purpose with Govenor Seyi Makinde’s agenda.”
“To protect the interest of innocent investors in the state, we have come up with modalities to accredit all real estate developers in the state, in order to have a robust relationship and curb the excesses of those that have polluted the industry,” Akin-Funmilayo stated.
He said that the accreditation would help the developers know where the state government had designated for housing development, as not all lands in the state are meant to be developed into housing estates.
The Commissioner noted that the government would provide the developers with the government land information that is needed for development, even outside Ibadan, the state capital.
He said: “With this, our people in the state cannot be duped and if they have a land to be developed into a housing estate, they will apply to the state government and they will be profiled properly. This will give our people in the diaspora a hope to come home and invest in the state.”
In his remarks, one of the estate developers, and representative of Ark View Investment Limited, Peter Olutoyese, applauded the laudable initiative.
Olutoyese noted that the advantage of free entry had been abused and the industry had been polluted, saying the regulation would limit the pollution and also give credible developers more chances to thrive.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
