12012021 - COVID-19: FG may suspend NIN registration — MINISTER

30 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2021
Experts project into Nigeria’s real
estate sector performance in 2021
•Say sector to do better
By Kingsley Adgboye
with Agency report
THE year 2020, although
filled with mixed feelings
and many hurdles, was a year
packed with lessons. The year
emerged with unforeseen turn
of events that have initiated
unprecedented trends in the
Nigerian market, and the
world at large, with severe
impacts on supply chains,
economic activities, and
international trade.
Economies are trying to
manage unemployment by
reductions in interest rates, and
other governmental action
that impacts industries –
mainly travel, tourism, and
hospitality. Currently, global
markets are trying to recover,
the IMF warns of a slower
2021, and individuals and
businesses are left to wonder,
“how long will this trend
continue?”
This pandemic will forever
change all that we know, and
have taken for granted as being
‘normal’, and it would be
naive of us, almost
catastrophic in fact, to think
that things will simply just go
back to normal as they were
earlier this year.
This new reality has changed
us as consumers, and the
organizations we lead must
change too, if we are to survive
and thrive in the coming era
of work. While every country
is at a different stage of the
pandemic, and many
businesses are struggling to
tackle the ‘here and now’
situation, it’s important that we
also start to focus our attention
on the future sooner, rather
than later.
According to Bilaad Realty,
a real estate journal, “But, how
best can business owners and
investors plan for 2021, help
rebuild the economy, invest
wisely and get value for their
money? This is what a few
industry experts have to say.
“For businesses and
individuals to thrive in 2021,
amidst increasing prices of
commodities in the country,
there is need to prioritize our
expenses. We must carefully
think through all business
decisions as regards spending
and come up with cost-cutting
measures to stem the tide of
increased cost of living.
“In 2021, businesses should
do more; be flexible in
carrying out their business and
Increase focus on online sales
– proven over time to help grow
businesses organically”, Eze
Nwogu noted
“We are projecting recession
in the second quarter or at the
end of the first quarter of 2021.
So, it is important that we keep
an eye on certain sectors like
the real estate market, to
ensure that expending
continues in that sector in order
to stay on top of the economic
recession and mitigate the
impact of COVID-19”, Alfred
Friday Okoh said.
“Real estate still remains the
asset of choice when it comes
to investment and this has
proven more than ever before
to be so, in 2020. Buyers should
be careful where they put their
money in 2021. Extensive
research should be carried out
before making any
investments, to ensure they
work with companies with
•Residential estate under construction
proven track record of
delivering value”, Abdulmalik
S. Mahdi stated.
Managing Partner, Modern
Shelter, Mrs. Amina Lawal,
opined that “The Nigerian
economy has been hit with
both the Covid 19 pandemic
outbreak, dip in oil price and
Foreign Exchange (FX)
volatility. The society at large
have become less interested in
investments, with capital
savings yielding negative
returns in the wake of rising
double-digit inflation
currently at 13.7%. It is
important for organizations to
prioritize spending and
postpone expenses that will not
add value in the current
situation”.
On collaboration, she said
“In 2021, we should look out
for more meaningful and lifechanging
collaborations
between Government (Public)
and Private Sector. The private
sector will come to the rescue
of the deficit budgets being
experienced by the
Government, and will channel
their investments to providing
infrastructure and capital
projects that will create an
enabling environment for
Small and Medium Scale
businesses to thrive and on the
other hand, increase the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of the
Nation.”
Lagos Assembly set to pass new
Bill on real estate regulation
By Ebunoluwa Sessou
EXPERTS in the
construction industry
have accused members of
Lagos State House of
Assembly of breaking the law,
saying it is wrong for them to
create a new Bill to regulate
real estate operations in the
state.
The accusation came
during public hearing on the
Bill entitled; “Lagos State Real
Estate Regulatory Authority”
which went through public
hearing recently at the
Assembly pavilion.
A lawyer, Mr. Olukayode
Olatunji, in his comment
faulted the Assembly for
holding the public hearing,
saying issues relating to who
has the right to control real
estate in the state was before
a court of law already.
“There is a court order on
this matter. The House of
Assembly should not waste
time with the public hearing.
We are in court and we must
respect the law. We are
lawmakers, so we should not
break the law,” he said.
Also speaking, a professor
from the University of Lagos,
Professor Martins Dada
wanted the house to define
what was meant by real estate
transaction, adding that one
problem should not be
created by trying to solve
another one.
“The House should consider
ways to grow the economy
and not jeopardise people’s
efforts by creating an
unfriendly environment
around their businesses”, he
said.
In his address, the Chairman
of the Committee on Housing,
Mr. Bisi Yusuff, Alimosho 1,
disclosed that the Bill was
meant to check the excesses of
operators in the real estate
industry as well as curb
quackery within the sector.
Speaker of the House, Mr.
Mudashiru Obasa,
represented by the Deputy
Speaker, Mr. Wasiu
Eshinlokun-Sanni, said that
public hearing is part of the
practise of the House before
any Bill is passed into Law.
Reviewing the Bill, the
Majority Leader of the House,
Mr. Sanai Agunbiade said
that it was divided into 37
sections and that the
Regulatory Authority would
be headed by a Chairman,
who shall be a person of
repute and a professional in
his area of practice with not
less than 15 years of cognate
experience.
In his reaction, the National
President of Estate Rents and
Commission Agents
Association of Nigeria, Mr.
Godwin Alenkhe, said that
estate surveyors and valuers
were omitted in the
composition of the Board and
that the Bill was an
amendment to the 2007 Law
on Real Estate.
Mr. Bolaji Raymond from
the Association of Estate
Agents in Nigeria said that the
Bill did not provide for parallel
regulation, adding that
penalty should be served for
not meeting the requirements
for registration.
Intrigue as Democrats introduce
article of impeachment against Trump
•Republicans block 25th amendment vote
By Henry Ojelu with
agency report
DEMOCRATS in the
US House of Representatives
yesterday formally
introduced an
article of impeachment
against President Donald
Trump for incitement to insurrection
and called on
Vice President Pence to invoke
the 25thAmendment
to remove Trump now.
The article of impeachment
cites Trump’s “repeatedly
issued false
statements” that he lost
the 2020 election “because
of widespread fraud.”
Addressing a crowd of
supporters in Washington
on January 6, Trump said,
“We won this election and
won it by a landslide” and
he urged his supporters to
march on the Capitol and
“fight like hell”.
The Democrat-controlled
House is poised to pass the
article of impeachment in
a vote as soon as Wednesday
if Trump does not
resign first, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
on Sunday. Democrats
have suggested not sending
the article to the
Senate until after Biden’s
first 100 days in office.
The Republican-led Senate
is unlikely to take up
impeachment proceedings
until after Trump
leaves office and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell has said he
will not start a trial before
the president term ends.
With just nine days to go
until Joe Biden is inaugurated
president on January
20 any Senate trial
would occur later under
new Democratic leadership.
Democrats’ latest effort
to force out Trump also
faces long odds of success
without bipartisan
support. It requires a twothirds
majority to convict
and remove Trump in the
100-member Senate,
where Republicans will
have a slim majority until
the winners of the recent
Georgia runoff races are
seated and Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris
is sworn in. Harris would
be the tie-breaking vote in
the chamber.
So far, only four Republican
lawmakers have said
publicly that Trump should
not serve out the remaining
nine days in his term.
An impeachment trial
would tie up the Senate
during Biden’s first weeks
in office, preventing the
new president from installing
Cabinet secretaries
and acting on priorities
like coronavirus relief.
Representative Jim Clyburn,
the No. 3 House
Democrat, has suggested
his chamber could avoid
that problem by waiting
several months to send
the impeachment charge
over to the Senate.
Trump would be long
gone by then, but a conviction
could lead to him
being barred from running
for president again
in 2024. The votes also
would force Trump’s Republicans
to again defend
his behavior.
Meanwhile House Republicans
on Monday
blocked a Democratic request
to bring up a resolution
urging Vice President
Mike Pence to start
the US Constitution’s 25th
Amendment process of
removing President
Donald Trump from office.
House Democrats
sought agreement to immediately
bring up the
resolution for debate, but
Republicans stopped it on
a voice vote. Democrats
have indicated they will
seek a recorded vote on
the same resolution on
Tuesday.
House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi has said Democrats
will move ahead with impeachment
if the 25th
Amendment is not invoked.
Biden nominates veteran diplomat as
CIA director
US President-elect
Joe Biden has chosen
William Burns, who
served for three decades
as a diplomat, to be his
CIA director.
Yemen’s Houthis condemn US
move to brand them terrorists
A
leader of Yemen’s
Houthi movement
said on Monday the
Iran-aligned group
reserved the right to
respond to any US move
to blacklist it after the
Trump administration announced
its intent to designate
it as a foreign terrorist
organisation.
“The policy of the
Trump administration
and its behaviour is terrorist,”
Mohammed Ali
al-Houthi said in a Twitter
post. “We reserve the
right to respond to any
designation issued by
the Trump administration
or any administration.”
“The Yemeni people
don’t care about any
designation from [US
President Donald]
Trump’s administration
as it is a partner in
killing Yemenis and
starving them,” he
added.
Iran’s foreign ministry
spokesman also denounced
the move, saying
blacklisting the
Houthis, like the designation
of Iran-aligned
Iraqi Popular Mobilisation
Committee chairman
Falih al-Fayyadh
last week, is “doomed to
fail”.
“It is clear that such
moves are mostly due to
the very undesirable
conditions of the US in
West Asia,” Saeed Khatibzadeh
said in Tehran.
“It won’t be far and
away when they come
and negotiate with these
same responsible and
Indigenous groups in
different countries, including
in Yemen. These
moves don’t have serious
value. These are the
final days of the Trump
regime.”
Mr Burns led the
Obama administration’s
negotiations with Iran to
reach a landmark nuclear
deal in 2015. Before that
he served as ambassador
to Russia.
He is currently the president
of the Carnegie Endowment
for International
Peace, an international
think-tank.
If confirmed by the Senate,
he would be the first
career diplomat in the
post.
The president-elect, who
takes office on 20 January,
has asked Congress to
confirm his national
security team as close to
his inauguration as possible.
Mr Burns retired from
the US Foreign Service in
2014 after a 33-year career
at the state department,
serving under both Republican
and Democratic
presidents. He holds the
highest rank in the
Foreign Service, career
ambassador.
In a statement, Mr Biden
said: “[Mr Burns] shares
my profound belief that
intelligence must be apolitical
and that the dedicated
intelligence professionals
serving our nation
deserve our gratitude and
respect.”
Mr Burns served as
deputy secretary of state
under former President
Barack Obama, ambassador
to Russia and Jordan,
and assistant secretary of
state for near eastern affairs.