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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Oyo State Government has announced that it will regulate the activities of real estate developers in the state.
Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Williams Akin-Funmilayo disclosed this while meeting with real estate developers at the state secretariat, Ibadan, on Saturday.
He said the development is part of efforts to guard against bad eggs among the developers, adding that one of the components of the present administration, is to ensure the urbanization of the state.
Akin-Funmilayo explained that the state government has been duly informed by several innocent victims, who have been duped by the bad eggs among the developers.
The commissioner stressed that the government is taking the bull by the horn, by registering practitioners, and not letting dubious real estate developers take advantage of its people.
“They cannot be operating in the state without knowing them as a custodian of land in the state, which will equally protect their interest.
“it is essential for government to know who is who in real estate business in the state. We should work hand in hand to achieve same purpose with Governor Seyi Makinde’s Agenda
“To protect the interest of innocent investors in the state, we have come up with modalities to accredit all real estate developers in the state, in order to have a robust relationship and curb excesses of those that have polluted the industry.
“To this end, they will know where we have designated for housing development as not all land in the state are meant to be developed for housing estate. We will provide them with the government land information that is needed to be developed even outside Ibadan.
“With this, our people in the state cannot be duped and if they have a land to be developed into an housing estate, they will apply to the state government and they would be profiled properly. This will give our people in the diaspora an hope to come home and invest in the state,” he said.
In his remarks, one of the real estate developers and representative of Ark View Investment Limited, Peter Olutoyese, lauded the initiative.
He said the advantage of free entry has been abused, adding that the industry has been polluted.
Olutoyese noted that the regulation will limit the pollution and it will also give credible developers more chance to thrive.