Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu today opened a stakeholders meeting on real estate agency calling for an end to incidents of fraudulent and unprofessional practices.
The Governor alongside his Deputy, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat at the event held in Victoria Island, Lagos noted that: ‘’apart from facilitating business relationships between people selling or buying, leasing or renting landed properties across the State, your activities also in no small measure, contribute to the State Gross Domestic Product’’.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the State Government had since 2012 created Lagos State Real Estate Transaction Department, LASRETRAD, to regulate, monitor and develop the institutional framework and to enhance the integrity of the property market in Lagos State.
While also reiterating the commitment of his Administration to bridging the housing deficit gap with the active participation of the private sector, the Governor urged participants to embrace and ‘’explore the deployment of new technology to create a platform for establishing business relationship with potential clients and maintaining existing ones’’.
Earlier in his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka hinted that the plan of the State is to positively affect the operational environment by creating ‘’an innovative and sustainable environment to promote Lagos as a real estate investment destination’’.
She added that the 21st century smart city of Lagos requires that all Real Estate Stakeholders and transactions be known and captured electronically with access to data.
Benson-Awoyinka stressed that there was need to provide and continuously capture and update a Unified Central Database of Real Estate activities within the state while making it accessible for objectives of planning and policy decisions.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai said the summit was a timely response to the need to curb fraudulent practices that are currently on the increase among some unscrupulous real estate agents/property developers practitioners in the course of their dealings with prospective customers.
He added that the establishment of LASRETRAD which aimed at standardizing the operations of the real estate business and agents operations will result in increased sanity in the sector which would be to the benefit of all.
Also Speaking at the event, the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN represented by the Federal Controller for Works and Housing, Lagos State Field Office, Revd (Mrs) Sarah Alawode urged the State to embrace the new initiatives and assist in the titling of documents which is critical in measuring the ease of Doing Business.
He noted that Nigeria has made a 10 Point Gain in the most recent statistics released by the World Bank
Fashola added that his Ministry will soon commence the sale of housing units developed under the National Housing Programme nationwide, saying that this will be done through an online subscription to ensure transparency and reduce human interference in the allocation process.
He stated that housing, apart from being one of the major needs of a man, holds great potential for the economic wellbeing of Lagos State and Nigeria at large.
