Written by CIA ADMIN
Basic housing still remains far from reality in Nigeria, with the country currently meeting only 3% of its annual housing needs, intimated the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN, 2012). The country’s yearly housing unit output is said to be 30,000, barely 3% of the Vision 20:2020 annual requirement of 720,000, the national mortgagbank emphasizes.
According to the various statistics on housing and home ownership in the country, there is an urgent need for development in the sector, in terms of financing and affordability. The apex mortgage bank in Nigeria says there is need to meet the annual national requirement in order to bridge its national deficit of 20 million housing units, as estimated by the United Nations. Lagos; Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre is estimated to have a need of about 4 million housing units to sufficiently accommodate its ever growing populace.
The challenge of financing necessitates the need for housing development beyond government provision, as can be witnessed the world over. As a result, the world over, a large percentage of housing projects are undertaken by private individuals and developers. Unfortunately, these forms of housing developments are not without their challenges as has been seen and is currently unfolding as what brought to CSR-in-Action’s attention.
Enter Primewaterview and Safe Court Estate
In 2007, a gated mini-estate which consists of 47 units of 3-bedroom penthouses (in blocks of flats) and 8 units of 4 bedroom semi-detached houses was promoted and developed by Primewaterview Limited with facility financing by Cornerstone Asset Management Limited on a 6,255.517 square metres parcel of land forming part of a much larger estate, out of which 30 of the housing units in the estate was said to have been purchased by Imperial Homes Limited (formerly GTHomes Limited), while 17 individual subscribers indicated interest and subscribed to the remaining units.
7 years afterwards, the individual subscribers are yet to get their apartments – a number having fully paid for theirs - while some have been even made to pay more. The questionable ethics on the part of the developers seem to have arisen when the developer could not pay off the loan the facility, as a result of frivolous expenditure as third party sources have cited.
“This matter is one of injustice and fraud perpetuated against the economic interest of good Nigerian citizens by 2 organisations, and their principals. The 2 organisations in question are: Primewaterview Limited (PWV), and Imperial Homes Limited”, said a subscriber of the facility, who pled anonymity seeing as the case remains in court. “They both colluded and fraudulently sold off to one another apartments that were purchased, while the buyers were not in breach of any contractual obligations at the time of their action. Further, the purported transaction was clandestinely carried out without the knowledge of us, the independent subscribers”, he further lamented.
A petition from the subscribers of this Estate shows that PWV embarked on the development of 47 apartments within Safe Court Estate and duly issued offers for subscription to different subscribers (in 2010, and in 2011). The condition was 50% down payment (upfront) and the balance 50% on completion, with completion time set for December 2010; which was subsequently shifted serially till sometime in 2013. Imperial Homes Limited as subscribers also paid for apartment(s) in the same development.
The Heritage
To embark on the development, Primewaterview took a loan (facility) from Cornerstone to develop the 30 units, suspected to belong to Imperial Homes and subsequently defaulted in payment of this facility, Cornerstone thus instituted a winding-up judgment on Primewaterview when the latter persistently defaulted in its payment obligations.
Imperial Homes thus intervened with an offer of servicing the facility in other to free Primewaterview from the impending crisis of being wound up, all of these were done with unclear negotiations and without the knowledge of the independent subscribers.
During this near crisis period, the pace of work slowed down considerably on the estate with the developers, PWV, alleging insufficient funding to complete the process. The principals of Imperial Homes solicited subscribers to make further payments (as against the original condition of full payment upon completion) to help push the work and complete the little scope that was outstanding. This was explained as being charges for electricity and water connections and were as much as N7,000,000 (Seven million naira) per flat. Subscribers were assured by the developers that once fully paid up, they would write to Imperial Homes (who was keeping all the title document(s) to the apartment as collateral, and their title documents would be consequently issued. Trustingly, subscribers went ahead to perform several upgrade works on the interior which included, painting, re-modelling, installation of A/C units, curtains, lightings, etc in their apartments in the last quarter of 2013.
The shocking reality
Come December 2013, when these subscribers, who had already completed payments, tried to gain access to their apartments, following ongoing positive reassurances from PWV, security agents of Imperial Homes barred them. To their surprise, Imperial Homes and its principals now claim to be the sole owner of the entire property, Safe Court Estate.
It is important to note that the alleged ‘take-over’ by Imperial Homes could have happened easily primarily because 2 brothers, the Ogunwusi’s, sit on the board of both organisations – Primewaterview Limited and Imperials. Imperial Homes have decried involvement in anything nefarious. However, that becomes less than believable considering that Tunji Ogunwusi is the Chairman of PWV, while Yeye Ogunwusi is a Board Member of Imperial Homes.
Fishy waters
A closer look begs the question of whether there is more to the earlier help to finance the facility given by Imperial Homes; a less than transparent process where a possibly illegal negotiation where the ownership of apartments due to the independent subscribers were transferred to Imperial Homes by Primewaterview as settlements of the debt it owed.
Unfortunate new home owner traps?
Private sector financing of housing development is one necessitated by the need to provide sustainable housing development and several laws are set in place by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority to regulate the financing, however actual monitoring of fund management by developers and financers can be deemed lax. Directors of both Primewaterview and Imperial Homes have refused to make statements on the issue as they say it is still an ongoing case in court.
We as concerned governance watch dogs seek to know: Why Primewaterview continued to misrepresent the "status" of investments, and continued to demand for and receive payments without delivering the houses? Why Imperial Homes proceeded to perfect the title of the entire development in their name, immediately the re-financing took place, knowing there were other paying subscribers – ethical or bullish? Why both Imperial Homes and Primewaterview deny them the privilege of access to their apartments, knowing that these independent subscribers did not fault in their agreement and payment?
Justice should be served
The rights and privileges of these subscribers have been trampled upon by practices being utilized by both Primewaterview and Imperial Homes and subscribers are seeking redress in court individually. We look forward to a quick and amicable resolution of the matter in the law courts, one Lady Justice’s scales are equitably balanced.
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