Our Stand (52) —
In reference to an article “Revisiting The Real Estate Development Bill” by one Alkasim K. Mabudi, said to be a real estate expert, arguing that the bill is filled with contentious clauses, it is best to draw his attention and that of his sponsors to this piece.
A society without rules and laws to guide the actions of the people would be a dreadful place to live and carry out activities.
You cannot claim to love where rules are stipulated for proper guidance and organization yet, you keep fighting an authority that seeks to create that serene environment for activities to be carried out in an adequate, holistic and honest way.
Choosing to fight against laws expected to guide the activities of a profession in which you claim to be an expert, entails that you are against the law of nature, you are not straightforward and love indulging in illicit ways of earning a living, and you feel threatened that it’s about to be stopped.
You claim not to be ‘opposed to regulation or establishment of a council that will guide the operations in the real estate sector and restore the confidence of subscribers’ in your write-up, yet, writing against the Real Estate Development Bill that aims at providing an enabling good society and transparency in the business of real estate development in the country and making the business of real estate development conform to international best practices, safeguarding the ultimate interest of all stakeholders in the business, it glaringly reveals that you still belong to that era of ‘state of nature’.
Anyone proving or showing himself to be against the law of nature is an enemy to humanity and prefers a ‘state of nature’ where people act on their own accord, without any responsibility to the society. And, life in these types of societies would be where the strongest survive and the weak perish.
The REDAN bill aims at standardizing the business of real estate development in Nigeria by regulating the conduct of transactions in the real estate sector, and writing against this bill as an expert like you said you are, one may understand that you have been misled by those who love indulging in sharp practices.
The real estate sector as it is today, has no proper regulations to guide the activities of many who claim to be estate developers, therefore, the sector needs this bill to achieve its purpose which has already been stated earlier. Those opposing this bill are the quacks, illicit players who feel their nefarious activities that stand against moral and ethical standards are about to be halted – through the passage of the bill.
Already, major stakeholders and housing professional bodies have thrown their weight behind the bill, a clear indication of the importance attached to this bill.
Worried by the activities of these persons best described as hoodlums parading themselves as estate developers or enemies to the development of the built sector, this is a call on lawmakers to have a rethink and push for the passage of the bill in order to halt the many selfish activities, best described as greed, ranging from fraud, money laundering to the increasing rate of building collapse in the sector.
These are the same set of persons that made the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)release a statement last year, accusing the sector of being responsible for 90 per cent of money laundering in the country. In the Chairman’s words, “one of the problems we have now is the real estate, 90 to 100 per cent of the resources are being laundered through the real estate,” he noted.
To the attention of the lawmakers, this is one of the reasons major stakeholders in the housing industry, under the umbrella of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria (REDAN), drafted the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill and presented it to the National Assembly in July 2020.
The bill was passed by the 9th Assembly on Wednesday November 17, 2021 and sent to the House of Representatives for Concurrence, a week after. It was also read on the floor of the House on December 2, 2021.
However, the news coming from the House of Representatives’ Ad-Hoc Committee Investigating the operations of the Real Estate Developers in the Federal Capital City will be a good music in the ears of these hoodlums, happy that they may be having their ways after-all.
Dear lawmakers, this bill when passed successfully, would act as a booster for investors and subscribers in the real estate sector. Therefore, for the sake of ensuring transparency in the industry, it is best advised that you should have a rethink and push for the passage of this bill to improve the real estate sector in the country, matching best international practice.
