Chime is one of the Founding members of REDAN and the immediate past President was elected in February 2015 in Abuja and 2018 he was re-elected for second term in office with a strong Exco of 19 persons on board. Chime’s dream as a developer, business man and technocrats were to shore up affordable housing stock and provide decent accommodation to low and middle in-come Nigerians. Chime, the Iroko tree dreams in REDAN during his tenure as the president was to build a strong, enlarge membership drive, his desire to tackle the low morale of the average developer lamenting that “The despair, despondency and hopelessness caused by both the socio-economic environment and the vicissitudes of rapid political changes negatively and impacted on the sector. Chime also sought upscaling of skills in the construction through artisan training and enhancement of professionalism through conferences, exhibition, training and workshops. All with the intention to make members standardize their processes and products for durability and integrity of building. One of the achievements of the Iroko tree was to improve competency of artisans and direct home construction personnel for construction of quality and durable homes. Chime encourages and partnered with Construction Skills Training and Empowerment Programme (C-STEMP) for training and retraining and he is a board Member. Chime is also a board member of the African International Housing shown, the biggest housing and construction expo event showcase in Africa, with a proven track record of excellence in all its edition. The housing show has been a point of meeting the teeming needs of the built industry, manufacturing and the market it serves in the most dynamic way. In order for peace to reign in the leadership positions in REDAN which keep rancouring, Chime reviewed the Constitution to reflect standards set by similar professional bodies to enable smooth transition from one executive to another with a tenor of two years from three years. The reviewed constitution which came in 34 pages was ratified on 10th March, 2019 in the heart of the federal capital Territory (Abuja) with all members in attendance. He also initiated what is called today, National Real Estate Data Collection Programme (NRE-DCMP). It was a program designed to provide information on land title documents, building cost and housing market conditions all in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and housing stakeholders produced, what became as the real estate databank the first in the history of Nigeria. The beauty of this databank is to capture off-takers demographics and their income which are useful for policy formulation and developers decision making. It was officially unveiled during one of REDAN’s Building Expo in the heart of Abuja in May 2019, and this is one of the biggest legacies of Chime the Iroko tree. One remarkable achievement of Chime was the proposed REDAN headquarters building by securing a parcel of land from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), for the process of building REDAN’s house which was immediately commenced. Chime pledge ₦25million and was fully paid off (the highest donations), by now the building could have been completed and put in use by REDAN. Chime also honours one of the Founding members a great man and the first pioneer president of REDAN, Late Lateef Jakande who is known to have contributed quite significantly to the development of the housing sector. Chime conferred on late Jakande’s Life Patron status and introduced the Annual Lecture series in his (Jakande’s) name. The Rural Urban Housing Initiatives (RUHI -774) a scheme was initiated by Chime and was hand over to the present leadership of REDAN. Chime is also on the fore front for the recapitalisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and also the law guides the foreclosure law.
Once more we say happy birthday as you add one to your age and pray you would be in support at all times for the housing sector. Congratulations Sir.
