By Editor

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN has identified Nigeria’s leading developer of smart homes – Cosgrove Investment Limited as a worthy partner in the Federal Government’s plan to establish a National Housing Bond in order to provide funding support to real estate developers, just as the Chairman of Cosgrove, Mr Umar Abdullahi said the organization aims to provide standard and affordable homes to low-income earners.

The Minister, who made the disclosure on Tuesday during a working visit to both Katampe and Wuye Cosgrove Smart Estates in Abuja, expressed delight in the ability of Cosgrove to create jobs and contribute to the development of the economy. He said: “Some of the conversations I have had with him (the Chairman of Cosgrove) is how they are financing their budget and how government can help in terms of interest rate, access to more capital,” adding that “there are so many people working for Cosgrove and that means jobs creation.”

The Honorable Minister said Cosgrove is an example of how the provision of housing infrastructure translates to jobs creation.

“Government is interested in growing the economy and creating jobs and infrastructure,” stating that fiscal policy and monetary policy levers can help the housing sector.

While saying that the government has been talking about creating an infrastructure fund, the minister assured: “We will go back to do some work on that, and possibly how to create a National Housing Bond that can be accessed by housing developers at very reasonable rates.”

“I will engage the Minister of Finance who is in charge of fiscal policy, and she will be able to hopefully engage the Governor of the CBN who controls our money. A lot of things are going on in this economy.”

While he said Cosgrove currently provides flexible payment methods for up to twelve months, he said fiscal policy can extend the duration to ten years or more, thereby enabling low-income earners to own their homes.

The Minister explained that the tour of Cosgrove was “deliberately organized so that we can also see what the private sector is doing in the housing sector,” adding that there are many people who want decent things, who have different needs and they can’t all be served by one specific person, some of them want high-end apartments like Cosgrove Smart Homes, they don’t want to build by themselves, they want an expert who can do it, and that is where Cosgrove comes in.

The Chairman, Cosgrove Investment Limited, Mr. Umar Abdullahi explained that Cosgrove offers different types of housing: “We have the premium and we also have the affordable, and we are working to provide both premium and affordable housing solutions.

The Cosgrove Wuye Estate and Katampe Smart Estates constitute our premium offering, and we are collaborating with the government to see how we can extend the payment period to bring homeownership to the reach of Nigerians, Mr. Abdullahi said, adding that Cosgrove will collaborate with the government through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to enhance the affordability of homes as a strategy to tackle the housing deficit in the country.

In a related development, the Director, Business and Strategy, Cosgrove, Chioma Ugwu who spoke to the press on the sideline said Cosgrove recently emerged winner of four keenly contested awards at the 2021 Abuja International Housing Show (AIHS).

AIHS, which is reputed as the ‘largest housing and construction sector stakeholder’s platform in Africa’ pronounced Cosgrove Investment Limited as the ‘Real Estate Developer of the Year 2021,’ while it also conferred on the company the award of ‘Year 2021 Africa Housing Leadership Award’ in recognition of the company’s efficient corporate governance system, a strategy by which it sustained enviable growth since its establishment in 2017, she added.

In view of the excellent commitment to customer-satisfaction at Cosgrove, and the organization’s outstanding commitment to projects delivery in line with global best practices, the company also bagged the ‘AIHS Service Excellence and Top Sales Award of the Year’ for its penchant for class and distinction which was demonstrated in the design of its boost at the exhibition, for which it joined three other companies to win the honour of ‘Best Exhibition Booth’ at the show which had over three hundred participants from local and international industry players.

Mrs. S. O. Winnie who took delivery of her smart Cosgrove home recently rated Cosgrove high, stating that the services of the organization are “fantastic.”

While saying that “it is thing of joy to live in a Cosgrove home,” she said by its signature homes, Cosgrove has become a “symbol of fantastic living,” and looked forward to a more beneficial relationship with the organization. According to Mr Dapo Adeyemo, a subscriber of a Cosgrove home, “Cosgrove has consistently delivered its project objectives and showcased the ability to deliver first-class homes to clients.”

He said: “Personally, I am delighted with the professional delivery of the building project and I am also happy that Cosgrove ensures a good relationship with customers,” adding that he would not hesitate to engage Cosgrove again in the future.

Mr Adeyemo explained that the operational level of services provided by Cosgrove as well as the client relationship management is excellent and cannot be faulted, stating that “the quality of the service delivery is excellent.” The fulfilled client expressed confidence in the Cosgrove team.