Business
Gafford declares war on housing deficit, promises 1m houses in 10 yrs
BY EMEKA EJERE
A fast-growing real estate firm, Gafford Property & Homes, has reaffirmed its commitment to complementing government’s efforts at bridging Nigeria’s huge housing deficit, with a promise to deliver 1 million houses in the next ten years.
This, it said, will go a long way in providing housing opportunities to the teeming Nigerian population.
The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Gbadebo Olamerun, who stated this at an event to mark his 2023 birthday anniversary in Lagos on Monday, regretted that Nigeria presently has housing deficit of over 17milliion, a gap he said would take the country about 17 years to fill, even if it is building a million houses every year.
He expressed worry that even the Federal Government was unable to build more than 30, 000 houses in the last eight years, a situation, he said, prompted the ambitious target of his company.
‘’It is not news that Nigeria presently has housing deficit of over 17milliion. And you’ll be shocked that even the Federal Government was unable to do more than 30, 000 in the last eight years”, he said.
“So, for building a million houses every year from 2023, it will take Nigeria 17 years to fill up the 17 million housing deficit. And that’s why Gafford said in 10 years, we will build a million houses.”
Olamerun, who recalled that that the Federal Government had assured Nigerians that things would get better despite the current economic hardship, expressed confidence that “Gafford is going to be part of the stakeholders that will provide the solution that the Nigerian entity requires to make things better.”
He said his company is ready to collaborate with private and public sectors, including foreign players from the West and Asia, with a view to building synergies that will facilitate provision of housing for all Nigerians, irrespective of social status.
He said: “For sure, Gafford is open to collaborate with local, state and Federal Government to provide the solution required.
“Bricks and mortar is the way we build in Nigeria. For Gafford Property & Homes, there’s going to be a lot of collaborations with stakeholders outside our shores, from the West, from the Asia to see how we can build international collaborations to provide succour and build horizontal apartments, instead of building the vertical. So that with one foundation that is done, about 20 families can be accommodated.
“What the Nigerian ecosystem does is one foundation, one family. It’s just now that we’re changing the narrative that one foundation can take as many families as possible.
“So, we’re collaborating with sectors that understand the industry to see how we can raise the bar and provide housing for the less privileged, for the middle class, for the upper class and for the super rich.’
In January this year, the company held the groundbreaking ceremony of its Ogudu Delight Estate, a massive project. It said, was designed for the superrich, middle-class and upcoming middle-class.
As part of its CSR, earlier in December 2022, Gafford Property & Homes unveiled a scholarship scheme for indigent children of northern extraction, with ten of them as pioneer beneficiaries.
According to Olamerun, the gesture was aimed at reducing the soaring number of out-of-school children which, he said, had become a major crisis in the country in general and in the North in particular.
