Q:
In this economic summit, a lot of issues have been thrown up. How can your company key into these policies?
Ans:
WE SUBMIT OURSELVES AS GUINEA PIGS TO TEST IF RIVERS IS REALLY OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Okay, the major thing we are doing as the Mayor of Housing is that we have been on ground so we are going to submit ourselves as the proverbial guinea pig, as the experience of whether the government policies are succeeding or not. We’ve been on ground, we’ve been doing business with the difficulty of doing business. We are now submitting ourselves to the Rivers State government as the guinea pig that will announce to the world when doing business becomes easy, when policies become clear, when the policies are working. So we are submitting g ourselves as a template the success or failure of whatever will be discussed in this summit.
Q:
What areas do you think are impending businesses that you think the government should rejig?
Ans:
GIVE US CLARITY, REMOVE BOTTLENECKS
Yeah! The most important thing for the government is clarity of processes and removal of bottlenecks. For instance, when the former federal administration of Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to succeed in drugs, they put somebody that was non-political in the person of the late Dora Akunyili to head that agency. It was to make sure that political and bureaucratic bottlenecks were removed. First of all the government has to be very mindful of the individuals that will handle whatever agency that will be placed with the responsibility of the resolutions that will come out of this summit. This is because having a clear vision, having clear agenda and clear intentions is one thing but having individuals with the competence, character, and resistance to bribery and other inducement to be able to birth that vision and agenda in practical implication is more important than having those agencies. This is because you might have agencies for those visions and those agenda, if they are the same political agencies filled with the same bureaucratic bottlenecks of Nigerian agency, you will find that the difficulty of passing through those agencies to get your business through is back to the same old business of difficulty of doing business and the government intention might not get to the real business practioners.
Q:
So, are you seeing a better Rivers State after this summit?
Ans:
I SAW A BETTER RIVERS EVEN BEFORE THE SUMMIT
I already saw a better River State before this summit because I tell people I’m not a politician, I’m probably Nigeria’s first or only valuetician. This is because I only get myself involved in valuetics and not politics. And, one of the things I’ve seen that I am very optimistic about, the post summit era is that, before the summit, the Rivers State governor had every excuse in the world not to have performed or done anything because of the political crisis going on in the State. Instead, he showed he could deliver at least tangible results within that crisis period and that’s how you can test intention of any man. As Martin Luther King said, the truth of a man is not where you stand in terms of peace but in the times of crisis. So, where he has stood before now has built a lot of confidence in those of us that are doing business in Rivers State. We now say that now with this clear agenda and with the vision that will come out after this summit, we are sure that when he was running or walking in the midst of crisis, when the crisis is over and the vision is clearer, we believe we will not only fly but help those of us that are willing to fly to fly with him.
Q:
You are an investor, what is your immediate reaction to the measures that the governor has reeled out?
Ans:
My immediate reaction to some of the things he said today is exciting and childish exhilarating joy. This is because hearing that from the horse’s mouth is reassuring. He can no longer renege on these promises given at this level. We believe he must mean these things and promises he just made. On the other hand, if the people around him don’t mean this thing and don’t share his own passion to deliver these things, access to him, access to the agency that will be responsible for these visions, it would be sad.
Q:
What is happening with your Eleme Housing Estate which we believe is part of your contribution to the development of the state?
Ans:
Yes, what we are doing is that the Mayor of Housing is bringing a sustainable city development to Port Harcourt in the Eleme axis. It is at the preliminary stage but people are calling it the new banana island. We are hoping to have audience with the governor very soon so that we can streamline the details of this housing estate, but believe me, it will have some of the first of its kind facilities and infrastructure in Nigeria in that place. It will be eco-friendly. It will be cost-friendly even though it will be a luxury estate for the high-end earners. It will be running pari-passu and would balance out the 20,000 low-cost housing by this same Fubara administration and it is going on toward the Ikwerre area.
If you look at the geographical location of the two projects, one is on this end, the other is on the other end; one is for this low-income earners, the other is for the high income earners. We discovered that a lot of expatriate workers don’t live in Rivers State. They live in Lagos and other places where they find a conducive environment. By the time that this is done, that situation would no longer be the case because even people in Lagos will want to come and leave in Port Harcourt.
Q:
Now the governor has indicated a political will for the state to emerge. What do we expect of you as an investor and other investors to do to help Rivers State emerge?
Ans:
All we need is, as I said, free access to the powers that take the decision for the implementation of this policy. Rivers State is not only willing to emerge, I’ve been doing business here for a couple of years, Rivers people are yearning to emerge.
Business people in Rivers State want to help the state emerge but sometimes when there are political and bureaucratic bottlenecks between your intentions and the reality, even what the policy has said you can do, you find you cant do it anymore. You find that when you get to the actual doing, there will appear what I call gates and fences. It becomes that no business man is willing to expend resources and energy to pursue unending processes when the same resources and energy can make him profit somewhere else.
Q:
What is your final takeaway from this economic summit, sir?
Ans:
Okay, my final takeaway from the day one of this economic summit was summarized by the first key note speaker, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, who came all the way from Washington D C for this presentation, and he concluded in his presentation, two things. He said, “all barriers to the difficulty of doing business must be broken down including political and bureaucratic barriers. So, he concluded that whatever the state government is doing, it is not about the summit, it is not about the agenda and the vision, it is about breaking barriers to ease of doing business. That is one conclusion.
Second conclusion he made was the integration of host community even though he made it with a reference to big corporations like NNPC. He said the host community must be incorporated into the private ownership of some of these big corporations. Guess what, yours sincerely already knew this and we already adopted and are deploying the same model in our Alesa Highland Sustainable City Project in Eleme where we have given the original land owners a 10% ownership in the new estate. Apart from that we are still giving them other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) incentives. That is the reason we are the first company in Rivers State to get an award from our host community even before our project starts in earnest.
So those two things, breaking down all barriers, both political and bureaucratic, and then ensuring that host community are part or equity stakeholders in development coming on in their state is the two things. So, the government needs to be conscious when a development or a business is coming to the state, macro economically, it is the state but micro economically, it is a particular location within the state. The government has to consciously create an equity stake for that micro economic location which is the host community.
So, in addition with these two takeaways, the final thing I got from today is that I heard the governor promising us investors the ease of doing business and why doling out the industries, he mentioned the housing and the real estate sector. That gives me full confidence that all our pending approvals soliciting before the government will be approved within the next one or two weeks or I will produce video evidence and remind the government where they made that promise of no more barriers.
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10.
Mayor of Housing’s takeaway after Day One of Rivers economic summit
His name is My-ACE China. He is a real estate success strategist and the Mayor of Housing. He threw himself fully into the Rivers State Economic and Investment Summit as if it was solely organized for him. He listed from the first word on Day 1 to last word on Day 2. He gave takeaways after each day;
Q:
What is your final takeaway from Day One of the Rivers State Economic and Investment Summit 2024?
Ans:
My takeaway for Day One was from what Prof Kingsley Moghalu who came all the way from Washington DC for this presentation concluded on. He concluded on two things in his presentation. He said all barriers to the difficulty of doing business must be broken; be they political and bureaucratic. He concluded that whatever this government is doing, its not just about the agenda and the vision, but about breaking down those barriers to Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). That is one huge conclusion.
The second conclusion he made was integration of a host community. Though, he may be referring to big organisations and corporations such as the NNPCL but guess what, yours sincerely already knew this principle and we have already adopted and are deploying the same module in our Alesa Highland Sustainable Development City in Eleme, near Port Harcourt. There, we have given the aboriginal land owners a 10% ownership of the upcoming estate. Apart from that, we are still giving them other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) incentives. That is the reason we are the first company in Rivers State to earn an award from their host community even before work would start there in earnest.
So, these are the two things: breaking down all barriers (both political and otherwise) and ensuring that host community is equity holder in any investment. The government needs to be conscious when and where a business is coming into the state. Macro-economically, it is coming to the state; micro-economically, it is coming to a community. The government has to consciously create an equity stake for that micro-economic location which is the host community.
In addition, I heard the governor promising investors Ease of Doing Business and he mentioned the real estate sector as one of the key areas. That gives me full confidence that all our pending approvals sitting before the government will be approved in no time. The investors here rejoiced over this promise and this pledge by a governor they are beginning to trust, and they each have the recording of the governor’s voice making that promise. They can produce it anywhere there is doubt over what the governor actually said. Our understanding is that there are no more man-made barriers in Rivers State economic space.
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12.
Mayor of Housing’s takeaway after Day One of Rivers economic summit
His name is My-ACE China. He is a real estate success strategist and the Mayor of Housing. He threw himself fully into the Rivers State Economic and Investment Summit as if it was solely organized for him. He listed from the first word on Day 1 to last word on Day 2. He gave takeaways after each day;
Q.
What is your final takeaway at the end of the two-day summit?
Ans:
My final takeaway at the end of the two-day economic summit is twofold. In law, the fundamental intention and show of the intention to deliver justice is what they call ‘audi autaren parte’ or the right to fair hearing. It means that when a justice system gives you an opportunity to believe that it will give you justice, it becomes a right. So, for this governor to sit down and use his precious time to hear us, it shows that everything discussed, he has the intention and commitment to execute it. With what I have seen today, I say to investors out there to please watch out for Rivers State. The governor has shown a willingness to execute what was agreed here. I think we can bet on him and test the weather.
Q:
Is there anything the real estate sector will draw from the blue economy that is now becoming the rave of the moment?
Ans:
Of course, one of the limiting factors in real estate is access roads and other infrastructure. You heard about the person who took the waterways and arrived Lagos in 15 minutes instead of three hours. That is what can happen when infrastructure is developed around waters. Properties across waterways will greatly appreciate. The infrastructure around waterways will boost in value and investors will play around it.
Dubai is even creating artificial waterways to make properties more valuable. Properties in the beaches are far more valuable than those in the hinterland.
So, well organized and well harnessed waterways will expose the value of property around them.
What I am saying is that lands locked for years in the waters will now become very valuable and very useful. Some people will pay anything for houses in beaches. Children like rollercoaster while adults go for boat ride. I will rather pay 10 times to have my house in the beach.
Q:
The economic summit has made people to suggest what should be done, what are investors in your category saying to the political class who may truncate all the good plans through political crisis?
Ans:
Investors are saying, two things are important; 1. The power of execution by the principal leaders of the state, which is the governor
2. Ease of Doing Business: In this term, we find that when the principal political actors appoint people of politics to economic positions, they might not have the capacity to make things easy for investors. So, we call for key positions to be manned by hardnosed technocrats who have no political biases and exposures. Ministries such as for trade, marine economy, blue economy, these should go only to seasoned technocrats from Rivers State. These determine the economy. Look for non-political figures. They are required to deliver value. We investors can feel free to go to them for ease of the business.
I love what is happening in Nigeria now, different states are wooing investors to come over. So, there is competition. Recently, we learnt that Landmark Beach that was lamenting in Lagos has been contacted by Akwa Ibom State government for discussions. If they give him incentives, there will be no Landmark Beach in Lagos but in Akwa Ibom.
Q:
It is easy to think you have interest or share in the government in Rivers State or in the Economic Summit, do you have any such interest? Why are you doing this and what is in it for you?
Ans:
I am the Mayor of Housing, not the Mayor of Empty Houses. If you build in a location not attractive to migrants, you will end up with empty houses. Part of the passion I have in housing in Rivers State is to reduce the Rivers–Lagos dichotomy especially in estates. We have a lot of expatriates and big shots working in Port Harcourt but living elsewhere especially in Lagos. We want to attract people to live in Port Harcourt and do business.
Land is no longer in production. It is a finite product. If more people come to Rivers State, it will make my business more viable because first impact would be land to build houses. If people do not come, its not good for me.
