UPDC Boss calls for access of pension account for house acquisition
…As company ups public ownership to 10 percent
By Charles Okonji
Federal Government has been urged to come up with a legislation that will allow workers below20 years to access their pension accounts to acquire houses.
Odunayo Ojo, the CEO of UP,DC, a real estate company,made the call in a chart with journalist in Lagos, saying that doing so would go a long way in solving the huge accommodation problem in the country.
“Over thelastfew years we have seen some regulatorychanges in real estate policies. Alsothere is advocacygoingon now for people to e able to isetheir pension a counts for real estate invesemt.
There are aot of people who arrnot up to 50 years of age thathave contributed to pension fund for up to 15 years but cannot access their pension fund.
” I advocate for them to be able toise partof this fund to invest in property ownership”, Ojo stated.
According to him, a pension fund contributor whohas for instance up toN5M could use it as a deposit to acquire a dream property.
Ojo disclosed that there are plans for his company to increase the public ownership ofUPDC fromthe current 6 percent to 10 percent or more.
Currently, UPDC that is 25 years old in the industry with a total asset in excess of ₦22 billion is equally owned by Custodian Investment Plc with 51% controlling equity, while UAC retains 43%.
Ojo disclosed that the company is currently embarking on new development projects, including a foray into other areas apart from Lekki Peninsula and Ikoyi to accommodate low and middle income earners where the company has identified a very high housing demand.
“By middle income housing, we mean those that salary income earners can afford. We want to take the brand to other areas apart from Lekki Peninsula and Ikoyi.
” We have already worked out incentive measures to allow for flexible payment up to three years.”
He further disclosed plans to engage mortgage institutions and banks, including other avenues National Housing Funds (NHF), all in a bid to ensure flexible payment plan.
On incessant building collapse in the country, Ojo said such does not apply in all their projects because rigorous international building standards are religiously followed in the design and implementation of all their building projects.
“We test all our materials, we make sure that qualified personnels are engaged in all our projects, that is why we train and retrain our personnels to ensure standards. We equally insist that all materials pass conformity test before usage.
” Since inception, we have never experienced any form of building collapse.” He stressed.
