Regardless of the wide gap between the upper and lower classes in Nigeria’s current economy, Erejuwa Gbadebo, managing director of Eko Development Company, has said investment in luxury real estate development is not disconnected from the broader housing realities in Africa’s most populous nation.
At the Property Investment and Smart Cities Conference organised by BusinessDay, themed: ‘Property Investment in an Era of Capital Discipline’ on Wednesday, Gbadebo, who is a successful architect, acknowledged that affordable housing is an important integral for any economy, but the class disparity, she notes, is a global occurrence.
“The rich deserve luxury housing. One of the things that builds a country is its tax base. People who pay the tax or who should be paying the tax are often the rich,” said Gbadebo, noting that “they have the companies and businesses, and they also deserve to be able to buy housing where they can host their international investors.”
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According to her, the people who pay the tax are the rich, and so they deserve luxury homes. She compared Nigeria’s rich and poor housing gap to New York, America, where there are Manhattan and Brooklyn – two cities with different housing – and London, England, where there are Knightsbridge and the East End.
For her, every successful economy is allowed to have housing that can accommodate the purchasing power of its population.
Meanwhile, Gbadebo also said that research is a key factor in attracting real estate investment. She urged players in the real estate value chain to invest in thorough research in things like title, Certificate of Occupancy, and all the necessary paperwork involved in land acquisition, before building or buying land.
“If, as a developer, you want to make a mark, you need to work with consultants who would help advise correctly and guide you in the right direction,” she urged investors.
