“Fayose’s Price Increase Of Construction Raw Materials Is A Direct Infringement On The Masses”

A serial entrepreneur and Real Estate key player, Mr. Debo Adejana has said that the price raise of construction raw materials by Governor Fayose of Ekiti state is a direct infringement on the people’s pocket stating that the move is a case of double taxation.

As much as the housing deficit in Nigeria remains at an almost stand still despite the efforts from the private players in the industry, stakeholders have attributed the lack of affordable housing to the cost of building materials in the country. This situation was further dealt a big blow in Ekiti state last week when Governor Ayo Fayose raised the prices for raw materials for construction.

“I will say that ordinarily, any increase in this difficult time cannot be a good thing. For real estate particularly, it affects the fact that affordable housing becomes more difficult with every such increase. A situation where we are already talking about the biggest component in construction – cement, being priced out of the reach of the masses that is majorly responsible for why affordable housing is difficult,” said Debo Adejana.

“The other materials that are indispensable, really are the sands and gravel and granite materials that Governor Fayose increased the cost in Ekiti state as we speak. An increase of about over 20% for the sand and over 12% or there about for gravel just simply translate to more and more difficult times for the masses to be able to own their own houses because eventually they are the ones that will pay the tax.”

Debo adejana who is the MD/CEO of Realty Point Limited also said that while it is understandable that every government must increase their revenue to be able to do more, he believes that whatever government has taken from the people should also be accounted for so that the masses are not made to pay for the inefficiencies of Government.

“The ones (Revenue) they are getting right now, what account have they given of this? When they give account, the people will realise they spent a lot on this and that then it becomes understandable that they are increasing and we also see the effect of the increase.”

“When government levy people, people are suppose to see the benefit on other sides not just that the strain is supposed to be on people. The tipper drivers refused and they now come to a truce and they have been settled with an opportunity to be able to increase their cost. So eventually the effect of the increase will not just be on them, but on the public. ”

” I don’t know from what initially but we heard it was first increase to #1000 by Gov. Fayose and now at the truce meeting reduced to 500 but there is a registration that every tipper must have in the state costing #50,000″

“I hope that Government will creatively look at the needs of Government and resolve them without necessarily directly infringing on people’s pockets as the case in Ekiti state has turned out”

“These are just the effects of double taxation that we talk about in the whole system as it were. But well, you can also say it is a tax for the rich but that is only if it is the rich that are expected to build houses. In this case, house is a social need, is a fundamental need. It is a social contract a government signs with its people. A government must be responsible in providing this without necessarily making life difficult for people. I just see this as a solution that is ill timed because the economy is not any better and you are putting more strain on people because you want to have more money to sort out government exigencies. Which I strongly believe is as a result largely of inefficiencies. There are better ways to solve this in my own opinion.”

It was reported that the state at a truce meeting conveyed by security chiefs and prominent lawyer, Afe Babalola(SAN) to put the loggerhead between Fayose and Tipper owners to rest saw the Governor accepting that operators would pay the sum of N500 per trip with effect from January 2, 2016.

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Mr. Fayose and tipper owners had been at loggerheads over his insistence that operators would now pay N1,000 per trip.

The standoff led to a ban from the state government, which restrained the tipper owners from carrying out excavation of sand in any part of the wtate, with effect from Wednesday, December 2.

The meeting was at the instance of Mr. Babalola; the Director of the State Security Service in the state, Duke Fubara and the Commissioner of Police, Etop James.

Mr. Fayose, at the meeting, said all tipper owners in the state must register their vehicles and get a new state number, threatening that whoever flouted the law would pay N50,000 fine.

“For the fact that I love you and that power belongs to the masses and with the intervention of our revered leader, Chief Babalola and security chiefs, I will accept this proposal. But my position has been that you must pay a sum of N1,000 per trip,” he said.