… As Minister says Power outages blameable on system disruptions, disturbances, not grid collapse***
Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Housing, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka, says Lagos State is a choice place for investors and investees in the real estate sector.
Benson-Awoyinka said this while delivering a presentation at the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Lagos State Chapter’s Second Edition Stakeholders Summit held on Thursday in Lagos.
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She stated that the demand conferred huge responsibilities on the state government to ensure effective monitoring of real estate transactions for the benefit of its people.
“As a form of proactive step, the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority Law was reviewed and signed by Gov. Sanwo-Olu precisely on Feb.7, 2022.
“This Law mandates the agency to regulate and register individuals or organisations operating in real estate business transactions in the state.
“It also maintains a database for real estate practitioners in order to curb reported fraudulent practices in the sector.
“The purpose is to boost financial transparency in real estate business transactions, protect individuals and organisations, investments both home and abroad, and prosecute investors or investees involved in fraudulent or sharp practices in the state,” she said.
According to her, the agency frowns at anyone taking undue advantage of individuals or organisations that are in need of residential or commercial accommodation.
The special adviser urged relevant real estate professional bodies to ensure that all their members are registered with Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Agency (LASRERA).
Benson-Awoyinka said that the registration was for the purpose of collating data on property transactions, in accordance with the provisions of the law.
she charged relevant stakeholders in the sector to key into the state government’s vision of “Towards a Greater Lagos”, as the real estate market cycle.
This, Benson-Awoyinka noted, offers great investment opportunities that would boost investors and investees confidence.
“Let’s tap into the rich real estate investment benefits and conform with established global best practices for this sector,” he said.
Benson-Awoyinka commended REDAN for bringing together real estate developers, stakeholders, intending off-takers and other interest groups in the industry to brainstorm on the progressive and sustainable development of the sector.
In his remark, Mr Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, charged developers to think of how to provide houses for all residents of Lagos and also put into consideration the low-income earners.
Akinderu-Fatai said Lagos state needs more housing, hence; the state government had encouraged the private sector to be a major player in the real estate sector.
In his address, Oba Saheed Elegushi, Elegushi of Ikate-Elegushi Kingdom, Victoria Island, said REDAN is an important stakeholder in the development of Lagos State.
Elegushi said members of the association must continue to spur development by ensuring that they support in providing decent and affordable housing to Lagos residents.
“If developers could play their part well, cases of building collapses in Lagos will be drastically reduced,” he said.
In the meantime, the Epileptic power supply being experienced across the country in recent times is caused by system disturbances and disruptions and not because of national grid collapse as being insinuated in some quarters.
The declaration was made on Thursday in Abuja by the Minister of State for Power, Mr Goddy Agba, at the investigative hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on power.
The investigation was sequel to perceived recurrent national grid collapse leading to incessant power outages.
The minister told the committee that there had not been a single system collapse in 2022.
He stressed that power disruptions being experienced were caused either by human, equipment or political factors.
He said blackouts experienced in September in particular were acts of sabotage.
He said that in September, there was blackout nationwide for a short while and some youths were seen on social media switching off the system.
“That was not a system collapse.
That was a deliberate vandalism. In fact, it was sabotage.
“How can young men go and switch off light thereby putting the nation in blackout just because of some grudges,’’ he queried.
Agba said the blackout arose from a trade union matter in the power supply structure and that he was already handling the situation.
In his submissions at the hearing, the Managing Director, of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Sule Abdul’aziz, said total system disturbances declined between 2017 and 2021.
He said that there had been significant and sustained improvement in grid stability with every passing year.
Also at the hearing, Dr Joy Ogaji, Executive Secretary, of the Association of Power Generation Companies, attributed the problem to obsolete infrastructure and excessive volatile load.
She said another reason for incessant outages was weak transmission infrastructure, adding that most of the equipments are over 25 years old.
The instability and unavailability of most transmission lines are other problems, she said.
She attributed the noticeable improvement in power supply to the fact that generation companies’ machines were now being used to manage the grid, contrary to the grid code provision.
She added that 97 per cent of the time, the grid was on high frequencies.
Responding, Rep. Sada Soli (APC-Katsina) expressed dissatisfaction at the explanations given by the respondents.
He emphasised that none of the submissions made suggested how to solve the problems in the power sector.
In another response, Rep. Magaji Aliyu, Chairman of the committee, said it would constitute a technical committee to compile a report and make recommendations to prevent future power outages.
