Special Adviser/Managing Director of the Ogun State Property & Investment Corporation (OPIC), Babajide Odusolu, has said that, due to the numerous reforms put in place by the present administration, aspiring land owners and subscribers to OPIC Estates have now realised that it is bad business to patronise the omo-onile (local land urchins).
“People now know that we are business-like,” he stressed last week in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the commencement of a spate of activities lined up to commemorate the organisation’s 30th anniversary.
According to Odusolu, a lawyer by training, OPIC had over years lost landed property due to inefficiency, poor planning and poor structuring. But he added that addressing these challenges enabled the corporation to recover about 200 hectares of hitherto lost land.
“We have been able to solve the problem of inefficiency and I can assure you that OPIC is very focused and valuable. While focusing all spectrum of the market, we do affordable housing and not cheap housing. We rethink strategies of what communities really need,” he said as OPIC last week flagged-off a month-long period of events to celebrate the landmark occasion.
“This will allow us share our successes, give back to the society and celebrate our many past heroes – living and departed.
“As part of our corporate social responsibility, we are also initiating a design competition for the construction of community health centres for our host communities. The design competition is organised for all tertiary institutions in Ogun State, and it is aimed at enhancing the design skills of our undergraduates in the areas of Architecture, Building and Engineering,” he said.
According to him, the competition will span a month in which participants will come up with a concept sketch, submit a letter from the Head of Department, do design/working drawings on AutoCAD, which is submitted via email (soft copy) and physically (hardcopy).
“A panel of judges will pick the best three designs that will be given awards during the Gala Nite, the closing of a series of events, which commenced last Thursday (September 4th) with a visit to the Motherless Babies Home in Abeokuta.
The events will continue this coming Thursday and Friday (September 11th and 12th) with the commissioning of toilet facilities at Our Ladies Primary School at Ibara, and commissioning of boreholes at Ibara Police Station, respectively.
Also on Friday, the week-long OPIC Anniversary Games will commence. It will hold at the MKO Abiola and Ijeja Stadiums. While on the following Monday (September 22nd), the OPIC Estate at Alamala will be inaugurated, Wednesday (September 24th) will feature two events – the commissioning of newly-renovated Government Primary School at Igere/Ihunsa as well as the Olawale Otesile Memorial Park.
Then comes the commissioning of roads at the OPIC Estate in Agbara/Igbesa on Friday (September 26th), followed the next day (Saturday, September 27th) by the OPIC Anniversary Concert at the Cultural Centre, Abeokuta.
The next and last set of events holds on Friday (October 3rd). First in the morning is the commissioning of the Orange Valley Estate at Oke Mosan, followed in the evening by the Gala Nite, scheduled for the O.K. Events Centre, Ibara Housing Estate, Abeokuta.
Odusolu’s words: “Particularly, we appreciate the governor, Senator Ibikinle Amosun, whose active encouragement and vision have been the linchpin propelling us to accelerated success. The achievements and progress recorded during his tenure are outstanding and numerous.
“The Orange Valley Housing, OPIC Estate Agbara roads, New Makun City, New Dawn Site and Services Scheme and the Terrace Bungalow Scheme in Agbara are just to mention a few. These are landmark projects with immense benefits to the Ogun State people in fulfilment of the Housing and Urban Renewal Programme of the administration.”
