Chairman of the Association, Rt. Hon. Okafor, Ministry for Housing Supervisor Dr. Chukwunweike and The Vice Chairman, Comrade Uju on Wednesday, when the Executive members of the association paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Housing in Enugu State
Enugu State Rectors Association (ESRA), a licenced body of real estate agents and professionals has commended the Executive Governor of Enugu State for his interest in the security of the state.
The Realtors who stated that they want to follow the footsteps of the Governor as it concerns security, said that, they have put a mechanism in place to identify and register all practicing Realtors in the state.
Chairman of the Association, Rt. Hon. Obidimma Okafor gave the hint on Wednesday in Enugu State, when the Executive members of the association paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Housing in Enugu State.
The visit to the Enugu State Ministry was led by Hon Okafor alongside other executive members including: The Vice Chairman, Comrade Kelechi Uju, Secretary, Thelma Chukwu, Assistant Secretary, Izuchukwu Eze. Others are Financial Secretary, Mr Jude Ofor and Assistant Welfare Officer, Ifeoma Madu, and more.
Speaking during the visit, Hon Okafor stated that, the essence of the visit to the Ministry for Housing is to let the government be aware of their existence as an organised group of real estate professionals and also position the association for any future collaboration with the government regarding the progress of housing in the state.
Expressing the need to register all the Realtors in Enugu State, Hon Okafor emphasised that their members are well trained to deliver their services with utmost sincerity and integrity and can be identified with an Identity Card signed by the government and the leadership of their Associations.
He therefore, warned that any unidentifiable individual posing as a realtor in order to defraud the public can be treated as impersonator by the security Units of the State Government.
He decried a situation whereby some quacks on the streets call themselves Realtors, stressing that with the steps they are now taking, everybody will be aware who the real agents are because the new mode of identification we are going to introduce alongside a valid ID card.
He said “We have now decided in Enugu State, that for anyone to operate as an agent, you must be recognised by Enugu State Realtors Association and the State Government so that the state will be aware that such people exist.
” Even the Enugu State Commissioner for Police and if possible Inspector General of Police (IGP) will be carried along because some of these impostor are criminals while some are looking for whom to do” .
“Just like I said, I went to the Ministry of Housing with all the executives of Enugu State Realtor. We went there to be identified well. We are partnering with the Enugu State Government, because we are Enugu State Rectors. If the government is not aware of us, that means we are not in existence. So we had a meeting with the overseer of ministry for Housing. So we had a lot of discussions with him because of lingering issues in the state”, Okafor stated.
Vice Chairman of the Association, Comrade Kelechi Uju says that oftentimes, landlords, lawyers, clients attribute their problems to the agents but that, in the real sense, agents are not usually the problem.
To correct this misconceptions, Uju noted that such misunderstanding is part of the reasons they have come to see the man who is manning the affairs of the ministry to clarify the whole issue so that stakeholders will know where their problem is always coming from.
According to Uju, “in Enugu State today, the registered Realtors are up to 500. So in this situation, if you don’t have any identity to identify yourself, it then means that person is not a registered member.
” Even if you form an ID card, there are lots of things that is inside that ID card that can recognise that person is a registered member or not.
” That makes it authentic. And our ID card has a lot of things on it, that you cannot forge it. If you do so, the ID card will put you in trouble”.
In a separate interview, Secretary, Thelma Chukwu, the Assistant Secretary, Izuchukwu Eze, Financial Secretary, Mr Jude Ofor and Assistant Welfare Officer, Ifeoma Madu, also emphasised the need for security.
According to them, unregistered Realtors pose security threat in the state. They therefore, added that there will be need for a taskforce that will monitor activities of agents in the state.
“We are going to have a taskforce team. If any practitioner defaults anywhere, our task force will appear to know if really you are a registered member. And if you are a registered member and you are found guilty on any kind of attitude or misbehaviour, you will be penalised”.
On their proposed partnership with Enugu State Government, they pointed out that, the Ministry For Housing is much interested in partnering with them to make sure that everything is working out well as the state has many estates.
“The ministry is interested in us because the government of Enugu State is interested in making Enugu State a tourism center.Making Enugu State a place where people will live and be happy.
Noting that Gov Mbah is very much interested in the security of the state, the Realtors stated that, they want to follow his footsteps by making sure that their clients are equally safe at all times.
“We have seen a scenario when somebody come to us as a client to take us to an unknown destination. You know, taking an agent to an unknown destination could be risky. These are some of the areas we are planning to checkmate so that all the Realtors would be safe at all times.
Emphasising on the need for the visit to the Ministry of Housing, they said “The reason why we came out with that ID card and to partner with the government is for them to recognise us and that we are ready to work together. We have had lots of experience from working in the bush as Realtors. We feed from the bush because most times, we go there to sell land, rent house and transact other businesses. We understand that such enterprise is not an easy one but a risky one.
