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French Mayors Can Sell My Houses in France Say President Wade of Senegal
I Dare Them, Because I Dont Have Any Houses in France
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France's mayors 'can sell houses of Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade. Mr Wade insists his hands are clean. If you find any he said to mayors in France, you can sell any hidden properties which belong to me. Mr Wade, 83, said he had made the offer "to prove I do not conceal any property in France". He said any proceeds should go to local charities, reports the AFP news agency.
In November Paris-based activists lodged a formal complaint with a French court accusing Mr Wade of the "illegal acquisition of real estate in France". Mr Wade said he owned one flat in Paris, which he had "bought 25 years ago, long before I became head of state." He also said he held just one bank account in France and that he did not own any property in any other foreign country. Mr Wade, a veteran opposition leader who was first elected president in 2000, spent many years in France and married a French woman. The government previously said the allegations were intended to tarnish his image since announcing he wanted to stand for re-election in 2012.
Solving the Cement Crisis
The Federal Government recently expressed concern about the escalating price of cement and decided to allow the importation of the product for sale to Nigerians at affordable prices. To this end, the government said it would grant tax waiver to importers of cement for a period of six months with a view to reducing the price of the product.
Less than a year ago, the retail price of cement was N800 per bag. The price later moved up to N1, 400 per bag and by last week, it was selling for as much as N2, 400 per bag in many parts of the country especially in the northern states. In other words, the price of cement has gone up by about 300 per cent within a year in spite of the Federal Government's approval of licences for more companies to import bulk cement and bag locally to bring down the cost of cement,.
With estimated national demand of 18 million metric tonnes per annum and an annual local supply of a mere 6.5 million metric tonnes, the shortfall of about 11.5 million tonnes of cement per annum, no doubt, has contributed to the high price of the commodity in the market.
It is sad that Nigerians have not learnt any lesson from the escalating price of cement over the years. In many countries, cement is not the only major input into the construction industry. In Nigeria, most houses are built with cement blocks, thus making cement a very important input to block making and in the construction of houses.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the ban on the importation of bagged cement has stimulated local production as some of the local producers have improved on their capacities. It is equally true that limestone and gypsum, the two most important inputs into cement production are available in commercial quantities locally. However, the inadequate supply of power and black oil to fire their kilns have had untold hardship on the available cement plants and drastically reduced their capacity utilisation. Particularly affected are Sokoto cement, Ashaka cement and Benue cement because of the closure of Kaduna refinery. Most of these plants suffer from acute shortage of black oil which when available is very costly.
With the epileptic supply of black oil, the option for many of the cement plants is to invest in other sources of power to fire their kilns. Gas and coal are the other substitutes. Since the national gas pipeline is yet to take off, the best option is for the plants to use coal. Ashaka cement is already investing in a coal mine with a view to retooling to be able to either use coal fired kiln or to fire its power plant or both.
Apart from the massive gap between demand and supply, over reliance on cement for building houses is a major cause of the inability of supply to meet demand. If people are encouraged to build houses with the available substitutes for cement, there would be less demand for cement and the price would be much lower and more stable.
Burnt bricks are a viable alternative to cement blocks in the building of houses. It was popular in pre-independence days. But, over time, its popularity among house builders waned. People shifted to the use of cement blocks while burnt bricks became more expensive and its usage has become more for decorative purposes on houses. The Nigerian Roads and Building Research Institute came out with some alternatives that would reduce the use of cement and therefore lower the cost of building houses especially for poor families. This initiative was not encouraged.
Another alternative that has been tested across the country is a combination of cement and clay, which will reduce the quantity of cement needed to construct houses. Unfortunately, this alternative is yet to be made popular in the country. Every family in Nigeria looks forward to owning its own house. It is part of the Nigerian culture. Also, with the country's teeming population and the acute shortage of houses in the urban centres, the demand for housing accommodation and for offices continues to rise.
However, government's decision to allow importation of cement with tax waiver, may result in another cement armada at the country's ports with its adverse effects on other activities at the ports and the country's economy. Indeed, after the country's bad experience of 1975, when all the ports were filled due to massive importation of cement, Nigeria ought to have moved forward by finding viable alternatives to cement or other cheaper materials that could replace cement blocks in the construction of houses.
Although the tax waiver to be given to cement importers is for a period of six months, it is a fire brigade approach, which may not be the solution to achieving stable and low price of cement in the long run. If anything, experience has shown that waivers will lower the price of cement for a short time and the price will shoot up as soon as the waiver is lifted. Besides, the reduction in the price as a result of the waiver would not be commensurate with the waiver granted to the importers. Thus, the waiver will encourage the importers of the commodity to extort the masses at the expense of the government and the people.
The way forward for the country in the building sector is to encourage more investors to invest in the cement industry and also encourage Nigerians to use other alternatives to cement in building their houses. Such a diversification will also encourage further investment in coal and gas as sources of power and for firing kilns by cement manufacturers. It will also take development to the interior and ensure that more investments are made in the sector.
Mortgage institutions urged to introduce rent-to-own facilities
Mortgage institutions and developers in the country have been urged to introduce rent-to-own mortgage finance option to enable more people have the opportunity of owning their own houses.
Managing Director, Lagos Building Investment Company Limited (LBIC), Mr. Babatunde Jinadu, who disclosed this at a recent forum in Lagos, noted that this is an area with great potential which has not really been explored.
He averred that a situation whereby low-income earners continue to struggle to pay high rents without any hope of owning the apartment, while the landlord kept smiling to the bank should not be allowed to continue. He noted that qualified lease option buyers could easily get mortgage loans to finance the acquisition of their apartments without worrying about where the next rent would come from or the possibility of being ejected from the house.
Also speaking at the event, Managing Director, Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Mr. Babatunde Oki, noted that paucity of long-term finance to originate mortgages is a serious challenge confronting the housing industry.
Oki, who was represented by the Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr. Olusola Martins, said that the concentration of physical development in the metropolis and urban centres had made availability of land for housing scarce.
He also identified the cumbersome and expensive nature of land administration as a big challenge, while noting that the legal framework for housing finance in the country was archaic and was not serving the needs of today.
On his own part, President, Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Alh. Hassan Usman, said that Nigeria is at a critical stage in the development of the mortgage market, noting that the r
He said that programmes such as the pension reforms, banking consolidation, reform of the property registration system, sale of government housing stock, strengthening of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the floating of N100 billion mortgage bond by the federal government have led to accelerated development of the mortgage finance sector.
Usman, who is the Managing Director, Aso Savings and Loans Limited, said, “This process will be further accelerated by the recent rating of Nigeria that will open the doors to additional foreign portfolio investments, a sizeable proportion of which will be to fund secondary mortgage market activities.
“In such a situation, industry competition shall become intense, leading to greater product innovation and enhanced access to mortgage finance. The Federal Government is well aware of these trends and is taking all necessary steps to ensure that the structural, legal and financial impediments to the growth of the mortgage finance sector are addressed with the necessary urgency.
I am confident for instance, that the foreclosure and the securitization laws will be passed within the lifetime of this administration.”
Obudu Presidential Retreat Just Like Camp David
he Obudu Ranch Resort was, in the context of Eurocentric historians, discovered in 1949 by a European adventurer, Macaughley, though it had existed long before then and harboured the native Becheeve people who may qualify as the aborigines of Obudu Plateau, in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State.
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With a height of 1,575.76 metres and a landmass of about 134 square kilometers, the Obudu Plateau is easily the highest point in not just Cross River State but the entire Southern Nigeria.
It is at this peak, which is the highest point on the Obudu Plateau that the Presidential Retreat, Nigeria ’s version of Camp David is located.
President Umaru Musa Yar’adua commissioned the Presidential Retreat alongside the International Conference Centre on October 25; this year. The event opened a new chapter in the nation’s cultural and tourism history.
Just what Camp David is to the President of the United States of America (USA), a place of leisure, rest and recreation after grueling days of attending to state matters, the Presidential Retreat in Obudu Ranch Resort would from the day of commissioning serve similar purposes for Yar’Adua and those that will come after him.
David Johnson an expert on Camp David states thus about Camp David: "For more than 50 years now, when president wanted privacy, they have sought the cool, secluded lodges and cabins of Camp David the presidential retreat tucked away in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.
"Presidents have entertained visiting heads of state, such a former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, conducted cabinet meetings, and briefed Congressional leaders at the retreat.
"The 1978 Middle East peace talks concluded with what have become known as the Camp David Accords. Yet few Americans know much about the place, considering its prominence".
Yar’Adua could not have been more exact when he gave his remarks after he commissioned the Presidential Retreat and formerly took possession of it from the federal government.
"I will always come to Obudu Ranch Resort with members of my family, and make this a sort of Camp David for Nigeria.
"Henceforth, I will ensure that any International Conference of Heads of State that will be hosted by Nigeria will hold in the International Conference Centre. We have opened the gates of to the little heaven on earth," the Nigerian leader said.
He said the next conference of the ECOWAS heads of states would be hosted at the Ranch Resort where the facilities at the International Conference Center would be put to use.
"We have opened the gates of the little heaven on earth’, he said in support of the description of the Ranch resort as a place that makes someone close to heaven.
The Presidential Retreat and Camp David share a lot in common in terms of the environment where they are located respectively.
Just as Camp David is situated 1,800 feet above sea level on a spot that is devoid of the near tropical humidity of the Capital of the US, the Presidential Retreat at the Obudu Ranch Resort is situated has a height 1,575 .76 metres and a Climate altitude of 1,716 metres above level.
The Ranch has a temperature of between 26_C to 32oC between November and January while the lowest temperature range of 4_C to 10_C is recorded between June and September.
The resort was established as a cattle ranch in 1949 and its actual development into a resort commenced in 1951 when Major Cranfield, a rancher who was brought by McCaughley found the climate exactly as obtained in his homestead in Europe.
Major Cranfileld started developing infrastructure to promote his investments in Animal Husbandry producing both dairy products and beef.
The development of Camp David started much earlier in 1935, when the Work Projects Administration, WPA, started building the Catoctin
Recreational Demonstration Area Project near Thurmont, Maryland, as an example of creating parks from worn-out agricultural land.
The virgin forest had to be reduced by ten metres to produce table topography for the construction of the edifice in the only temperate climate in southern Nigeria.
Like the former whose facility consist of several small cabins, a dining hall, and a swimming pool, the Nigerian version of Camp David consists of facilities which include Army Barracks, ADC Quarters, the main apartment for the president and others for visiting Heads Of States.
The development of the Presidential Retreat had been on since 2004 when the Cross River State during the regime of tourism friendly government of Donald Duke, informed the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but there was no definite statement as to whether it would be made Nigeria’s official Presidential Retreat. He only visited to inspect the facility while it was under construction. It was never commissioned until he vacated office for his successor, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Barely a two moths after the Yar’Adua assumed office the Federal government through the Presidential spokesman, Olusegun Adeniyi had revealed that the president had chosen Obudu Ranch in Cross River State "to serve as Presidential Retreat", (America’s equivalent of Camp David) for recreation, contemplation, rest and relaxation as well as for meetings, discussions and hosting dignitaries in informal settings."
The decision is similar to that taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 when he established Camp as a Retreat, a place that will enable him escape the summer heat of Washington.
That was the real serious attempt at giving it present status as a Presidential Retreat. However, the place was named Camp Shangri-la ; the name remained through the tenure of his successor, President Harry Truman who made Shangri-la the official Presidential Retreat of the United States in 1945.
President Dwight Eisenhower, it was, who renamed it Camp David after his grandson, and David was born. The name stands until date.
In the Context of the Presidential Retreat at the Obudu Ranch Resort, the official seal has been place on it as its equivalent of Camp David, but currently it has to operate with its current tag until a name definite name is allocated to it.
Though not much of a problem, when that is done the place would get a definite name that would be appreciated by all as befitting.
After the Commissioning and hand-over of the Complex to the Federal Government, the state governor senator Liyel Imoke, who did the hand-over told journalists that a definite name would be given to the nation’s Presidential Retreat.
Imoke said that the rechristening of the Presidential Retreat would be done after due consultation with the federal government, but added that the name would reflect the local community where it is located over at an altitude of over 1,700 metres above sea level.
Maintenance and harnessing of its potentials are the important features that have kept Camp David on for decades since the American Government established it as its Presidential Retreat.
These important aspects, as the president cautioned, has not escaped the knowledge, if the Presidential retreat were to stand the test of time and live up to its billings as the Recreation centre of the Nigeria’s President his immediate family members and guest.
"If facilities here are properly maintained, people from all over the world will be coming here. The potentials of this Resort know no bounds. Let the state work out a management maintenance structure that would make the facilities to last. This resort should be aggressively marketed to the world.
"With Correct Marketing strategy, this place would be a beehive of activities all year round. The federal government will do everything in its powers to ensure that this resort is patronized. Henceforth, all National and International Conferences of note will be hosted here beginning with the meetings of ECOWAS Heads of State", Yar’Adua declared.
For Imoke, the words of the President in this direction are to be taken seriously by the state government in ensuring that the Presidential Retreat and its dreams endure.
The Governor revealed that the facilities at the Ranch Resort; of which the presidential Retreat is one have been carefully established to complement each other in the tourism programme of the state, with those commissioned on October 25, 2007 as the Crown.
"We have converted this God given naturally endowed scenery into a world class Resort capable of hosting all manner of retreats, conferences and leisure activities as well as promoting Eco Tourism.
To compliment this effort, the state government has invested significantly in tourism development establishing a circuit that extends from Obudu, with the Cable Car, the longest in Africa, through the 400 meter Buanchor Canopy Walkway, again the longest in Africa, the Drill Ranch, home to the almost extinct drill Monkey, both situated in one the largest remaining tropical rain forest in the world…. Imoke said.
"The Obudu Ranch Resort is a window into the tourism potential of not only Cross River state, but other states in Nigeria as well. This potential cannot be fully realised without the support and partnership of the Federal Government," Imoke said.
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