By Echeburu Oby
Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, is a former governor of Lagos State from 1979 to 1983, and was later made Minister of Works from 1993-1998 under the late Gen.Sani Abacha’s military regime. In an interview with Prince Oluseyi Lufadeju, he gave explicit details of some of Jakande achievements in Nigeria when he was a minister while holding other positions in the country’s housing sector.
Viewpoint: What can you say were the standard achievements of Lateef Jakande that made him become the first President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN)?
Lufadeju: He was unanimously appointed as the first president of REDAN, his role was to establish a structural outlook to REDAN in terms of having structures, offices, setting up membership in all states of the federation. He gave us a very good foundation, he was a pioneer, He was able to establish REDAN’S presence in all states of the federation and was able to harness the flow of capital from the housing financing institutions to REDAN by way of getting Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and other establishments to patronize the membership of REDAN so that they can make effective contribution in the area of provision of housing across the country.
He gave an experience of his governorship tenure in Lagos state to show practical example of what can be achieved and we feel delighted and proud of what Alh Jakande was able to do as the pioneering president of REDAN. I must mention that prior to that time, I had met him when I was working with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as the Director in charge of the Urban and Regional Planning Department, that was during the Shehu Shagari housing estate. If you remember at that time, there were lots of misunderstandings and hostilities between the Federal Government and some of the states in terms of participating in the federal housing programs. Most of the states were not ready to release their lands for the federal housing programs and on one occasion, I was asked to go and meet Jakande and I did at his office in Ikeja. We said we want him to support this effort to have a site to construct 2,000 housing units for the federal housing program in Lagos and he called his staff and instructed them to take us to Agbeson in Lagos state that they should give us as much land that is needed to build an estate.
The most successful location for the Shagari housing project was the Agbeson housing estate in Lagos state, through the support of Jakande.
Viewpoint: Jakande succeeded in the construction of low cost housing, which has been named after him as Jakande Estate in Lagos state. The present Minister of Works and Housing said low cost housing can’t be viable, what was the secret behind Jakande’s success in the provision of low cost housing in Lagos state?
Lufadeju: Well, I’m not sure that the present Minister of Works and Housing said low cost housing is not viable, I don’t think he said that. What I think his strategies was during his campaign, he said he was going to build housing for the people, no matter what is needed to be done. Being the man in charge of provision of land, providing lands in all the local governments in Lagos state was not difficult for him, he used the machinery of government to create infrastructures in those locations and deployed people to go and build estates all over the local governments in Lagos. As far as he was concerned, he was not interested in fancy buildings, he was interested in practical buildings that can house people.
When he became minister, he tried his best to also ensure that houses where built in other locations in the country.
Viewpoint: During Jakande’s time as the President of REDAN, he brought in estate development loan. When he left, FMBN suspended the loan. Don’t you think that he will be disappointed to know about this?
Lufadeju: Let me correct that impression, Jakande did not bring estate development loan. The concept was introduced by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, the board management under the leadership of Professor Akin Mabogunje.
The idea was that most developers did not have access to funding therefore, the bank should provide capital for developers to create estates. That’s why it’s called estate development loan.
Once you get the loan, you develop the site and sell and the FMBN was ready to provide mortgage,. After that, the money can be recouped and paid back to FMBN. Unfortunately, this program could not last because of the attitude of a lot of people that took the loan and did not use the money to execute the program in the various places. There were a lot of defaulters, some up till today have not paid back the money. So there was no way the FMBN could continue providing loans that will not be repaid by the respective loanees . There has to be mutual trust and confidence between the person providing the loan and the one taking the loan.
Viewpoint: In the upcoming 2nd Lateef Jakande Annual Lecture on Housing, what should the participants expect to see at the lecture?
Lufadeju: In year 2019, we established the REDAN leadership, the then President Rev. Ugochukwu Chime established the Alh Lateef Jakande annual lecture and the current president of REDAN, Alh Dr. Aliyu Wamako is having the second lecture to be on the 27th of November, 2020, and it will be on virtual basis because of the Covid 19 pandemic. We can’t congregate in a large hall like we did last year but we will hold the lecture and in attendance there will be prominent speakers who will be talking on the efforts to make viable and decent housing for the people of Nigeria. Some of REDAN members will be with Alh Jakande at his home that day to support him as we host the second annual lecture.
Viewpoint: Sir, what good will message would you want to send to Alh Jakande?
Lufadeju: I have the greatest message of thanking him for the great services he rendered to the housing sector in our country, I thank God for the leadership role he played and for what he was able to achieve and his legacies will continue to live on because, he made a lot of land mark projects which we shall continue to remember him for generations yet unborn.