Friday, June 8, 2012

Diary of a Lagos Island Property Agent - June 8th



WHERE ARE OUR REGULATORY AUTHORITIES?

Monday
Yet another airport disaster in the making as the Abuja and Lagos airports experienced a blackout last Friday which affected the runway landing lights. A Government official confirmed that "some of the runway lights were out of order and needed repairing; he confirmed that both Lagos and Abuja Airports have old melting underground electric cables over 30 years old!
This is a sad indictment of the way our infrastructure is run; this is also an alarmingly common occurrence which could one day lead to another air disaster. Where are the government monitoring agencies? Is life so cheap in Nigeria? The Aviation industry needs to tighten their belts as they are not only compromising the safety of local flights but also of international flights that use our airports daily.

Tuesday
Again we have been made another promise by the Minister of Power, that we should expect improved power supply by the end of this year, which will see output increase from the current 2500MW to over 5000MW! Forgive my scepticism, but we have heard this so many times before and it has all come to nought. Why should we expect it to be different this time? Let us maintain our indefatigable hope and wait and see.

Wednesday
Where are the regulatory authorities for the health sector, education, oil and gas, roads, buildings, manufacturing, pensions, aviation, power, water, security etc? This list is endless. These areas all need an overhaul; a lot of noise is made but no action taken! Who will take action? No one knows? Even our existing regulatory authorities and probe panels are proven corrupt and compromise their investigations into wrong doings. It is a sad state of affairs for the country.

Thursday
I got an email from a witty young banker looking for self contained accommodation on the Lagos Island. I enquired further what his price range and areas were, to which he responded that he was looking for something in between ” a Mercedes quality accommodation but with a Molue price” The analogy at once made me laugh, but brought to mind something I had outside of his comfort zone, but within his price range. I put that to him and he seemed keen to arrange a viewing of the property. Once in a while I receive amusing contacts like this that lift the mood of the intense doom and gloom that is all around us. He has asked that I do not write about him, but unfortunately I can’t help that, I however promise that I will not name and embarrass!

Friday
Talking about naming and shaming, sometimes I wish I could name some unscrupulous agents and clients. One in case being an Agent who saw one of my properties advertised and contacted me on behalf of his client. I gave him the details, but only after I had reluctantly extracted from him, his name and company details as well as that of his clients. He rang me up persistently to arrange an appointment. I did this, and luckily I work very closely with the landlord, who later contacted me to say the agent had turned up unannounced with his clients and had begun negotiation of the rent! The Agent has not contacted me neither is he picking my calls! One really has to wonder at the integrity of some so called property Agents.

Until next week!

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