Dr. Smith Ezenagu sits atop as the Managing Director at Esso Properties Limited, a real estate development company. In this interview with Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie, he shares interesting insights on how real estate developers are changing the landscape of eastern Nigeria with bespoke designs and architecture and other related matters. Excerpts:
The Federal Government has threatened to open up its borders for cement importation if the local manufacturer’s failed to lower the price of the commodity in the market. Some stakeholders have also pushed for the government to invoke Order 5. What is your take as a developer?
The government should please engage cement manufacturers otherwise if the government opens the border for mass importation of cement, the price would crash no doubt but it will affect these companies because they are high employers of labour. The government proposed a price of N7, 000 to N8, 000 and to us in the business of building homes and indeed for most Nigerians and developers the agreed price is a bit on the higher side we can break even with it. Cement is a very important ingredient in construction, hence whatever happens to cement as it goes on to affect the entire real estate and construction industry. Apart from that, hardship is high and a lot of people on the street depend largely on the construction industry to survive as they play in different stages of the sector.
Construction sites all over Nigeria employ a major percentage of these people and with developers pulling out of sites, it means there is no job for them. Once there is no job for the active set of the population then we will have a problem in our hands. Everybody is talking about cement alone but it’s not just cement because we have other materials like rod, sand, etc. In fact, if nothing is done to curb the current prices of building materials in Nigeria, we might get to a point where shelter will become a luxury and not a basic necessity.
If allowed to stand it will affect a lot of ongoing construction though as it stands today most people have left the construction sites around the country waiting for when the price of cement will come down. I will also advise the government to look at the demands of the cement manufacturers to at least meet them half-way. Clearly, this is a crisis for housing delivery. An increase in essential building materials means an increase. Apart from the government stepping in to curb these things, I believe this is the time to explore alternative buildings like wooden houses and others.
Inflation and rising building materials prices are said to have crippled construction sites such that some developers have abandoned their projects. What is your story; how are you navigating all these?
Rising cost of materials is a major problem in the real estate industry. Anywhere you turn now you see developers pulling out of sites, everyone is waiting and praying to see what happens. If nothing is done to curb this and get things to a level of stability, we would face a very major crisis in the industry soon. For instance, I started a project in the Epe area of Lagos; in October last year and I bought a trip of sand for sand-filling at the cost of N37, 000. Three months later in January, I started a project in one of my estates in Ibeju Lekki, Emerald Garden Estate but unfortunately I had to pay N90, 000 each for the trip. This is an almost 200 per cent increase in price in just three months.
This is the type we have not experienced before. It’s a major problem that must be tackled head long; else there would be serious problems. I can imagine developers that have collected money from clients with the hope that they would build and deliver in 2024. If you took money when sand was 37,000 naira per trip and now it’s N90, 000, that means you may have to spend over 100 percent more than you budgeted to complete the project. It’s a challenging situation and something needs to be done as soon as possible.
With the outlook in real estate currently how can the government achieve affordable housing?
Affordable housing has become a huge joke. It’s no longer achievable with the outlook of the economy and the real estate sector. The high cost of building materials and almost all most government’s inability to stabilise prices and also provide an enabling environment has made it almost impossible. There is a need for the government to also cut down on its taxes and have fewer regulators but not toying with standard and quality.
As a player in the luxury segment of the property market where over 70 percent of the materials are imported, how is the crisis in the forex market affecting your operation?
The free fall of naira is affecting everyone and everything, but we are hoping to come out of it soon. I also hope that in days to come our dependence on imported materials would be revisited so that we can begin to mitigate some of these effects on the cost of living. Imagine the shock when you buy cement at N7,000 today and go back the next week to hear that the price is now N11,500 per bag. Personally, I have had to halt a lot of projects so that we can watch what happens. We are keeping hope alive believing that the government is doing something about it and we hope they get a solution soon.
As a nation, I believe we need to do something to reduce our dependence on imported materials; our nation is not a dumping ground. The funny thing is that the majority of these imported materials can be produced in Nigeria and exported abroad. The 70 percent you quoted in your question is actually too conservative, it is actually over 80per percent because we import over 80 percent of our building and construction materials.
For instance we use largely foreign doors, we are the ones that export the timbers abroad, they develop the timber and produce doors and we import into Nigeria to use. It’s sad, how can we resign to the notion as a nation that we export raw materials and import finished products?
All we need to do is to make the environment right for local industries to spring up and begin to cover these gaps.
Can you elaborate on the inspiration behind the creation of Awele Residential and how it aligns with restoring the ancient eastern aura?
I am from the Eastern part of Nigeria and whenever I visit and look at the kind of estates we are building, I realise that much more still needs to be done. We have very few estates and even the few we have are so normal, just the house and all. So, I decided to create the kind of estate that people will travel from a distance, even the Diaspora to come and see. Secondly, there are things associated with Easterners. We have our unique architecture, style, unique taste and our way of defining luxury. So, while developing the concept of the estate, we decided to align it with our definition of luxury – hence restoring that ancient Eastern aura.
What we want to achieve in Awele Residentials is a perfect blend of modern luxury and culture. It is a very unique concept and the first of its kind in Nigeria. Anambra state is a take-off point for the Awele Residential, but it is not a project for Anambra state alone. We intend to have Awele in other Eastern states, including Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.
Can you discuss the key amenities and facilities offered by Awele Residentials and how they contribute to enhancing the overall living experience for residents?
In Awele Residentials, our key focus includes the Igbo pride, modern luxury, green spaces and community centres. We have residential space, commercial space and recreational areas. We intend to create rain water harvesting technology which is one of the known practices in ancient Eastern Nigeria for community use. Some of our buildings will have green roofs to help us achieve a completely healthy luxury living space. We will also create a strong sense of community by including features like farm market, community gardens, pedestrian friendly streets, well lighted walking paths, community pool, fitness centre, nursery and day care centres.
To celebrate our culture, we will have features like community theatre for weekend cultural performances, museum and art galleries in the most luxurious and modern way possible. In Igbo land, we like open space for evening friendly sit outs and we will have a botanical garden for evening sit outs, a meditation garden, and sports facilities in place. So, Awele Residential is a place built for the people that have taste for luxury in the Eastern style. Our green roof, solar system, green streets were all carefully designed to help achieve environmental and energy efficient standards.
Can you share insights into the target demographic for Awele Residentials and how the offerings cater to their specific needs and preferences?
Awele is built for anybody that wants to live above average. It is true that Easterners have a culture that celebrates work because we are the hardest workers in this continent. That’s why we also play hard. So we want to achieve a relaxing, healthy, luxury community for the upper class.
Everything we are planning to build in Awele will only be made possible with the use of technology. We have a feature called virtual inspection in Awele which enables those in the Diaspora whether United States of America, United Kingdom or Canada to inspect Awele in real time and tour the estate as if he is there live. We want our brothers and sisters spread all over the world to have an estate of pride where they can buy their properties and feel safe and proud, or buy some of the buildings that will be coming up in Awele and be able to bring back their friends and families from any part of the world to come and experience. We have three purchase cycles for Awele Residential – Pre-launch purchase that started on the 26th of this month (February) where we gave people the opportunity to purchase Awele at almost half the price for just a few plots before the launch, and the post launch price which takes effect immediately after the launch of the estate on the ending of this month.
Indeed in Awele Residentials, class is important to us and we have created two classes or sections in the estate. The Odogwu plots which is 1000 Square meters is for the real ballers who desire more space to express their designs and Ijele plots which is 500Square Meters in size for the Ijeles who are on their way to becoming an Odogwu. Nevertheless we will also accommodate those looking for moderate prized houses with other average properties we have in the market like Summerview Estate, etc.
How do Esso Properties ensure transparency and trust in its dealings with clients, considering the increase in reported cases of fraud by Developers and the importance of trust in the real estate market?
We have been around for a number of years and we have a policy in Esso Properties that we only sell what we have. We have a reputation as an organisation and we are for sure the best real estate development company in south eastern Nigeria. The moment we launch our buildings for sale, we give our clients some form of guarantee. Also, we are planning to partner with one of the major banks in Nigeria as our guaranteeing partner who holds the funds. Clients will pay to a designated account and the bank will release funds in tranches until we complete the building as promised. We created that to give our Diaspora market some major form of guarantee and trust to know we will deliver on our promise.
With the seeming insecurity in the South East, how will Awele Residentials thrive?
Awele residential will have 24/7 smart security. Security is one of the things that will be celebrated in Awele residential as the class of people that would live in the estate is more particular about security. Aside from that, the South East is not as insecure as the social media makes it look. We just celebrated Christmas and we didn’t hear of casualties, despite the mass number of people that came in to celebrate Christmas. It is safe in the east. Also, as Igbos we believe so much in our homeland. We actually have a saying that, Aku lue uno, Okwuo Onye kpatara ya – which means, when wealth gets home, it will announce who owns it. No matter what happens, our home is our home and we cannot run away, I am calling on my brothers all over the world to bring our wealth home. It is safe here beyond what the social media shows us.
