By Owoleye Oluwakayode
The Ogun state government has warned estate developers that they will face sanction for failing to get approval on advertised property for sales in print and online.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, TPL Olatunji Odunlami, disclosed this at the official launching of Ogun State chapter of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, (REDAN) in Abeokuta.
The Commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Yetunde Dina, said, “In recent times, many Real Estate developers in the State are in the habit of advertising landed property for sale in print and electronics media without obtaining necessary approvals from the State Government.”
The Commissioner said Government is determined to curb such illegal and indiscriminate physical developments in order to check the proliferation of slums in the state.
His words, “As we are all aware, the REDAN is the principal Body and umbrella of the organised Real Estate sector (Private) in Nigeria, having been conferred with official recognition by the Federal Government of Nigeria in November 2002.
“From the inception of the Administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun in May 2019, the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria has been working in collaboration with the Ogun State Government to effectively sanitize the Housing Sector and ensure that due processes are followed before embarking on any development across the State.
“There is need to lay more emphasis on the need to obtain Approval/Permit from the State Government before advertising any land for sale to avoid being sanctioned.
“Advertising and selling of Estate land is counter-productive to the proper urban development and management drive of the State government without obtaining all the necessary documents according to Ogun State layout and Land Subdivision Regulation 2020.
“Before purchasing any land for Real Estate purpose, some procedures must be followed which include the following amongst others;
“Approaching the Bureau of land and Survey to verify if the land is genuine, i.e outside Government Acquisition as residential Estate cannot be sited just anywhere as some areas have been designated/zoned, ‘non-residential’ while some are committed Government Acquisitions.’
“Approaching the Ministry of Physical Planning or any registered Town Planning Consultants for the design of layout.
“The law mandates anyone with landed property of one hectare to apply for layout permit from the State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development before selling or developing such land.”
Tpl Odunlami while speaking on the importance of the opening of REDAN office in the State said, “It will further enhance the relationship between the Government and the Real Estate Developers Sector.
“This will enable the Government to easily monitor and control illegal developments across the State.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of REDAN, Ogun State Chapter, Oyebola Ogunsanya believes that there is a lot of fraud in the system and that is why the system need sanity.
“Furthermore, we are in partnership with government and its agency like EFCC to bring sanity into the real estate industry,” he said.
While addressing the guests, the General Secretary of REDAN, Babatunde Adeyemo assured of the readiness of members of the Association to play by the rules as stipulated by the government.
“We, the Ogun REDAN Executive want to assure you of our zeal to ensure that our members play by the rules of the game at all time.”
Head, Franchise Unit, Gateway Mortgage Bank Limited, Omigade Olukayode enjoined the real estate stakeholders to be sincere in all their transactions.
According to him, “Houses that have complete documents in Nigeria are not more than 10%, therefore, government should make C of O accessible and REDAN should go to grassroots and build avoidable houses for the citizens.”