Secure property titles can reduce poverty — Firm

An estate surveying and valuation firm, Ubosi Eleh + Co, has stated that ensuring proper documentation of properties is the surest way to fight poverty.

A principal partner at Ubosi Eleh + Co, Emeka Eleh, stated this on Friday in Lagos while addressing journalists during a pre-event press briefing to mark the company’s 35th anniversary, billed for the second week in June.

Eleh stressed that when a property is properly titled, it will be easier for the owner to get loans using the property.

“We have always advocated that, to grow the economy and to fight poverty and put money in the hands of people, one way will be to give titles to the properties they own. Because everybody has access to property in one form or the other. If you don’t have one in Lagos, you have one in your village, and every property has a value.

If you give me the title to what I have, let’s say if the property can give me N1bn or N2bn, that’s a lot of money for a small-scale business, but it is difficult for you to raise money from what you own without a title. If you own a car, you can sell the car easily because the car is registered in your name,” Eleh said.

Eleh advised the government to work towards a land reform process that will give everybody title to his land.

“When that is done, the government is able to generate more income through property taxes because it means that you know all the properties now,” he advised.

According to him, ensuring properties are properly titled, which is what happens in developed countries, enables the government to know where the properties are, which helps in collecting property tax.

“Property tax is the major tax base for every government. If you go to cities in America, the budget for the city is mainly from property tax,” he said.

Earlier, Chudo Ubosi, also a principal partner at Ubosi Eleh & Co, added that the Nigerian property business is transitioning from the era where people saw the sale of property as a secret to where people can openly say they want to sell their property.

“Looking back now, we are transitioning from a property business where the property sale was almost as if nobody were to know. If you’re selling your property, you have to be very quiet; you don’t advertise. We’re transitioning from a place where we were going from that into, Look, it’s my property; I can sell it if I want to. I can place a bond on it if I want to,” Ubosi said.

Ubosi thanked God for seeing the company through the last 35 years, adding that the company, which started small, has grown into a big empire, stressing that they did a lot of marketing in building the company.

“The importance of communication – we played on it. Marketing still remains a very strong foreground of our business,” he added.