FG Asked To Make More Investment In Real Estate

 

Federal, state and local governments in Nigeria have been urged to invest more in real estate as the industry has the potential to create thousands of jobs annually and help tackle the country’s rising unemployment scourge.

Making the call in Lagos on Wednesday ahead of a global property brokers conference on May 1 at Landmark, Oniru, founder of GtextHomes, one of Nigeria’s leading real estate companies, Dr Stephen Akintayo, said the housing sector is among leading job providers in most developed countries.

He said the Nigerian Government must take a bold step to tap into this area for employment creation for citizens.

Akintayo while revealing that GtextHomes had lined up seasoned real estate brokers from around the world including Ryan Serhant, and leadership coach, Dr John Maxwell, to educate Nigerian youth on how to benefit from the global multi-billion dollar property industry, said that the firm was open to partnering with relevant stakeholders to provide affordable housing and sustainable employment opportunities for individuals.

“Massive investment in real estate will help reduce unemployment in this country. It will solve issues of security as more people can learn to know they can make it legitimately. That is why the government at all levels in Nigeria must look in this direction because it has the potential for creating thousands of jobs annually.

“As a company, we believe this conference will empower at least 12,000 people in terms of job provision. We are looking at about another 15,000 people being empowered through what we are doing. We are hoping that the number of brokers created through this initiative will get to 100,000 in five years time.

“We hope that at this conference will learn a lot from the likes of Dr John Maxwell, a leadership coach, to fully tap into the goldmine that the real estate sector is,” he said.

As of March 2021, the unemployment rate in Nigeria stood at 33.3 per cent – the second highest in the world – according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The figure is projected to rise further, according to analysts, who have blamed the government’s reluctance to diversify the Nigerian economy as part of the factors responsible for this problem.