Follow Us on Google
Maduka Nweke
Pertinence Group, a people empowerment firm with bias for real estate and investment, has warned that Nigeria’s housing challenge might get tougher if proper planning is not put in place. The company said this could happen due to the worsening global economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm, at a virtual seminar held earlier in the week said, it is contributing its own quota to assisting the Federal Government in its efforts at providing shelter for the over 17 million unhoused citizens.
In what industry players view as an audacious move, the Pertinence Group, through an initiative called “HomeVest” seeks to build 100, 000 housing units for Nigerians on an annual basis over the next 10 years. This, the company believes, will greatly complement the government’s projected 300, 000 annual housing units. Explaining the concept, its Executive Director and Co-Founder, Pertinence Group, Mr. Wisdom Ezekiel, revealed that “HomeVest” is home ownership simplified. He further explained that the firm looked at the housing deficit challenge in the country and decided that it had to be a part of the solution to the housing deficit problem.
“That was why we started the Home Vest scheme powered by RealVest, the investment arm of Pertinence Group. With this, we aim to reach out to people by giving them the opportunity to own their own homes through a simplified process of instalment payment. This is some kind of mortgage system, though we are not a mortgage firm. It works like what you have in developed countries- a mortgage system which enables you pay for your own house through your rent payment over a period of time. Some people are already paying N500, 000 or more as rent a year, but this same rent is what Home Vest adds up over a period of time and the house becomes yours upon completion of payment. The good thing is that once you pay up to 50 percent of the value, it becomes yours because we hand over the keys to you,” Ezekiel said.
