Christy Anyanwu
Meckson Innocent Okoro is a leading figure in Nigeria’s genuine real estate industry. He is the principal representative of M.I Okoro and Associates, a genuine real estate appraisers and appraisers company founded in Ikoyi, Lagos. It also presents a communication display committed to genuine ownership. In this interview, he communicates about the race amid the COVID-19 pandemic and much more.
How has the pandemic affected your sector?
As is well known, COVID-19 has caused widespread disruption of operations in all sectors. For us, in the real estate sector, we have had to deal with a scenario in which, most of the time, other people who need to buy an asset cannot come and inspect the properties. Not that they can’t inspect, but the challenge is that they can’t conclude. In addition, the maximum number of tenants now says they will not be able to pay their rent on the due date because the long era of the blockade has affected their business. Even in Lagos, where you can simply say that other people move, while maintaining a social distance, other people remain skeptical. They do not need to come and inspect properties, rent them or buy them; they’ll tell you to wait until the scenario gets better. For those looking for loans to finance the progression of genuine real estate projects, I’m not sure banks are currently offering facilities. Banks are waiting for the current scenario to stabilize. As a result of the pandemic, the value of crude oil fell and everything else collapsed. On the plus side, smart investors believe that genuine real estate is an opposite hedge to inflation because they know the values will rise. So they need to invest in real estate. That’s the positive side of it.
Now that the relaxation of the blockade is progressing, how is your sector reacting to this?
Well, I’m positioning my business to take advantage of emerging opportunities. I set up a TV show, National Real Estate Today, a genuine real estate education and awareness platform. The concept is to succeed in as many other people as you can imagine because we can’t move into their offices. We can use the TV show to convey our message and take it to homes.
As I said before, the pandemic has affected my career and caused a major setback for practitioners. We were destined to hold the national convention in March of this year. Due to the blockade and the factor of social distance, the convention remains suspended to this day. Even those who were elected to lead the affairs of the professional framework for the next two years were also unable to take over. In response, we made the decision to hold our annual general online meeting, a virtual convention. All the things we enjoy when we meet, I, we don’t perceive them this time. I think it’s a fundamental setback in our industry. But no one can do anything about it. If things get back to normal, we’ll continue where we left off.
Why is it difficult to get mortgages in Nigeria?
For a long time until now, apart from what Babangida gave from 1992 to 1994, when he created the number one loan establishments and all collapsed due to mismanagement and lack of proper regulation of the industry. Since then, nothing has happened in the credit industry. Just two months ago, President Muhammadu Buhari established another credit institution. It was about fifteen with mandates to open offices in all states of the federation. But it’s still in the plan-making stage. We hope that this will become a truth and that they can lend to others. I think 15 branches are too small for the whole country. I think they deserve about four or five in each state, so it’s less difficult for other people to access it. Under the existing agreement, the approval procedure will involve several bottlenecks. But when the approval era is short, it will be less difficult for others to get their loan. At the moment, nothing is falling in the lending subsector. Believe me, unless that happens, it will continue with the progression of genuine heritage and funding for genuine heritage progression.
Why can’t we have public housing in Lagos state? Can’t you imagine such a task for your profession as a champion?
The passing government is not interested in housing the masses. This is all you want to know and that’s why they haven’t done anything to create social housing. The collective housing he said is called social housing and social housing is not profitable. No developer will want to move into such a business because they know that the elegance of other people looking to catch through such progression is diminishing elegance. Only the approved government, at the federal, state, and local levels, can motivate others. The passing government will have to provide the highest percentage of investment for this housing progression. For example, the passing government deserves to offer a loose loan because the other people it targets don’t have enough cash even to buy the houses. It’s not profitable. Jakande was passionate about his time to get houses for the masses and did it. But today’s governments are not interested in such things; I have to be fair to you. That’s why we don’t ask them to do it because it’s not profitable. They don’t make the kind of money they expect to make. That’s why they left everything in the hands of the personal sector. The personal sector will never move on to housing for the poor or the masses because it is not motivated by profit. Maybe, in time, when we have passionate passages, we know. The momentum will be there and I think everything will be fine.
We have a collapse in development that has an effect on construction. What do you think deserves to be put in position to stop the tide?
This consultation deserves to be addressed to members of the Nigeria Institute of Builders (NIB). Your job is to kill. They deserve to put pressure on state and local governments to involve them in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of others who build with lower cloths. And the Nigerian Organization for Standardization (SON), what are they doing? They are expected to make sure that every time they see a new base coming, they have to move to the site to standardize the fabrics used in construction. And the low quality fabrics deserve to be confiscated and even the owner of the construction can be processed. Another is that the passing government will have to take very seriously the fact that any developer whose construction collapses for any explanation of why he will lose the certificate of occupation of that land for the passing government, and the assets will become a public pass. Most of the other people involved in these projects are not even professionals and members of the Nigerian Institute of Builders. They are simply illiterate developers who want little cash to make ends meet. They do not belong to the Nigerian Institute of Builders and, therefore, the NIB cannot even punish them. This means that only the passing government, through SON or the Department of Planning and Planning or the Department of Public Safety of the State Government, would ensure that the culprits were well punished. This is the only way to avoid the effect of construction collapse.
When you’re not thinking about work, how do you relax, what makes you happy?
I’m a golfer when I’m not working, I play golf. That’s how I am, and that’s enough to keep me busy.
What classes have you learned about life?
You have to do whatever Afi love provides. Whatever gives you a hobby, stick to it until the end. Above all, it doesn’t matter what you’ve earned in life, but how you’ve used it to help humanity. Take, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned many lessons. This means that, at the end of the day, it’s not what you’ve won. What you’ve gained in life may not make sense to you at some point, as we saw during the employer closure period. You’ll have to have seen that other people who have personal jets, yachts, exotic cars couldn’t even pass out to drive or enjoy them. But at the end of the day, that’s what gives you the hobby that helps you stay alive. How you’ve helped humanity is what will speak for you. This is how others were given concern in palliatives, and began to share and make others feel satisfied and therefore contribute to humanity. It’s not being busy and gaining wealth that counts. At the end of the day, what counts is this: when the chips are low, can you tell yourself? How it has helped humanity, how it has contributed to the progress of its community, its state, and even its nation, these are the things that matter. This is the delight I have learned and I am very satisfied with it.
Christy Anyanwu Meckson Innocent Okoro is a leader in Nigeria’s genuine real estate industry. That…
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