Edward Akinlade is the Chairman of Haldane Mccall and Owners of Suru Homes. In this interview with SEGUN KASALI, he speaks on housing deficit, building collapse and so many other issues affecting the property space in the country.
Housing deficit is still a major problem in Nigeria. As a real estate guru, how did we get here?
Well, we got to where we are because the government is not encouraging developers to build massively all over Nigeria. No government can meet the housing deficit if the developers are not encouraged. I can remember as far back as 2006, when Jakande’s report came that we had a 16 million deficit in Nigeria. That deficit is still the same till today. So, nothing has happened. I would be surprised that over one million new homes have been built between that 2006 and now. Yet, affordable new homes construction can transform Nigeria. If the next government decides that they want to build 10 million new homes all over Nigeria, do you know how many jobs that would create? Do you know how many supply chain, indirect chain that would be created and the federal government does not need to spend a kobo.
How?
They just need to give lands to developers and all these problems would be resolved.
What about the excesses of developers especially as it relates to building collapse in the country?
The reason for housing collapse in the country is greed of our people in the past and now. Everybody is trying to cut corners. If you look at the house that collapsed in Ikoyi for instance, professionals did two of the buildings and then our man decided to do the third one by himself. The problem is he believes that he can do it cheaply. So, people were supplying him Nigerian steel for that high rise building. So, it can’t work. It was not an imported steel. Again, the concrete mixture is wrong. They preferred to use less cement to sand. And then when you look at Lagos for instance, most of the houses are defective. The foundation is not right. In fact, somebody said that half of the building in central Lagos needs to be demolished because there was no foundation. So, more houses is still going to collapse in Lagos.
What then is the solution?
House does not collapse in a day. It gives warning. Lagos State just needs to start demolishing any house with a crack. All these we are giving you six months’ notice and all that would not solve this problem. Housing collapse will continue because of deficiency in government’s execution. And there have been a lot of issues such as disobedient of rule of law and especially fall in exchange rate.
In what ways has the fall in the exchange rate affects developers?
Ninety-nine percent of everything we use is all forex-related. Even the sand that is being delivered is forex-related because the truck that will bring it is using foreign diesel. So, that is the effect on prices in construction. It goes up as long as forex goes up. That is the reason why once the CBN gets it wrong, it affects majority of things.
Any government interventions’ strategy?
The thing is that the Federal government is not interested. There is no goodwill, sincerity, and the will to create an enabling environment. Until there is high level of commitment from the government, all these issues will still be there.
Recently, you had a briefing in front of your property in Ikeja. What’s the rationale?
Basically, we own an hotel. AMCON said we are owing them money. AMCON took us to court (Federal High Court and Court of Appeal) but we won. The case is now pending at the Supreme Court. And then, Lagos state called me that there is work at my hotels. I was like which work? When I got there, I discovered that Lagos State Government has actually sealed the hotels. So, we discovered that AMCON has done something either sold the hotels or they are doing the work themselves or they have leased the hotels. The truth we don’t know. The hotel has been stripped down. Hotel that is worth N6-N7 billion is now carcass. They have sold everything inside. So, that is the purpose of my press briefing. The message is President Buhari, AGF Malami should call Ahmed Kuru to order and to tell the Lagos State Government that I am not the one working there. AMCON was set up to bring resolution to bad debt for Nigerian banks. The resolution they did was to pay the Nigerian bank at a discount for the loan, take the loan over and restructure those loans or re-establish all those businesses. That they have not done. Even loan or businesses they have intervened, all those companies are dead. A good example is Aero Contractors then. So, any company AMCON has gone to manage are not managed. They have become an undertaker of businesses in Nigeria. So, it is very unfortunate and that is where we have found ourselves. So, AMCON just need to wind down.
What makes Suru Homes unique considering the proliferation of real estate companies in Nigeria?
I think it is the matter of leadership. I came from real estate development in the United Kingdom. So, I got into Nigeria. And also, what we have been doing for 16 years is there to be seen. My history stands being a chartered accountant and that is why we focus more on integrity businesses not on mass production businesses. If I only sell one home in a year, I am happy rather than wanting to sell one million homes while everyone is unhappy. So, that is what makes us stand out. And what makes a good leader is experience.
Besides leadership, what are the others?
What we are building is for a defined market. For instance if we are building in Ikoyi or VI, we know where the market is. That is what we would build for. If we are building in Ikorodu, we know who we are building for. So, we are not jack of all trades. We build for a specific market.
How long does Suru Homes intend to stay for?
Forever and ever. We are at the process of listing the company on Nigerian stock exchange. The whole idea is to make independent managers continue operations in case of eventuality. The company’s name is Haldane Mccall PLC.
How did you come about this name?
Years ago, I bought a company in the Isle of Man called Haldane Mccall. So, it is that same name that I brought to Nigeria. So, once the Nigerian own was registered, I now closed the one in Isle of Man
Your passing shot to others in the property value chain?
We have all failed Nigeria. When you talk about government, who are they? We are all the government. But, the level of greed is so endemic in our country and all. So, until we change and someone resets the system, we can’t move forward.
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