By Tony Adibe
A socio-cultural organization, the Ala-Igbo Development Foundation (ADF), has advised all Igbo in the Diaspora to henceforth bring home their investments to fast-track the development of southeast zone and reduce the ongoing migration of Igbo youths who are chasing greener pasture outside their homeland.
NewsBits recalls that the ADF, which was founded by author and former university don, Professor Timothy Uzodinma Nwala, has among others, as its key objectives; the protection and ensuring the survival of Ndigbo, their culture and civilization as well as strong advocacy for Ndigbo to invest in, and develop Igboland rather than waiting for the federal government.
A one-time Aide-De-Camp (ADC) to the late former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Bishop Obi Onubuogu, and a former commissioner for information in Ebonyi State, Chief Abia Onyike, both of whom are top officials of ADF gave the advice during the pre-launch of Blossom City Estate in Enugu by a Lagos-based real estate firm, Pinto Realty Limited.
The Blossom City Estate, which is located at the boundary between Nike in Enugu East Local Government Area and Udi in Udi Local Government Area, has 77.4 hectres and 1000 plots, with a small river at its back which, hopefully, could be turned to a lake at the appropriate time, NewsBits was informed.
Addressing the gathering, Bishop Onubuogu, who is the Chairman of ADF Board, said that he was excited about the Blossom City Estate because its ownership shared the same vision and philosophy of Aku Ruo Ulo with the ADF, stressing that ADF had been campaigning since 2014 on the urgent need for Ndigbo in Diaspora to develop Igboland by investing massively in the southeast zone.
He appealed to the five governors of the southeast states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo to introduce policies that would not drive investors away rather ones that would create a business-friendly environment for business to thrive, urging them to key into the Aku Ruo Ulo campaign to fast-track development and industrialization of the southeast.
Onubuogu recalled that the Igbo had witnessed a lot of injustices in Nigeria since the 1960s culminating in the Nigeria/Biafra war, and more recently during the 2023 general elections, such that they must learn some useful lessons from those ugly incidents to the point of returning parts of their investments to develop Igboland.
He said: “Right now, the whole trend is, and it has dawned on us – Ndigbo – that Aku ruo Ulo is what should be our song these days. We have to drum this song into our ears and those of our children. The Igbo people have seen a lot in Nigeria. The Igbo man has witnessed so much that he must learn his lessons from.
The symptoms manifested even before the civil war. Then after the Nigeria-Biafra war, the authorities in Nigeria seized everything we had outside Igboland before the war. Have you forgotten that all the houses belonging to the Igbos in Port Harcourt were seized from them as abandoned property?
“My own mother showed me her land in Port Harcourt, but I couldn’t approach it after the war; people have seized it. So, we have to caution ourselves.”
Bishop Onubuogu, who is also the founder of the Rock Family Church, Ogui, Enugu, however, lauded Lolo Nneka Chimezie, the owner of Pinto Realty Limited, the initiator and promoter of Blossom City Estate that is anchored on the vision of Aku Ruo Ulo (Invest in Igboland).
In his contribution, the one-time information commissioner in Ebonyi State, who is also the acting General Secretary of ADF, Chief Abia Onyike, recalled that Lolo Chimezie had been into real estate business for a very long time, adding that she muted the idea of Blossom City way back in 2021 during the administration of former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who welcomed the idea of Ndigbo developing their homeland.
Onyike said: “Our idea is that even though the Igbo are known to be very great migrants, that the time has come for us to get back to our own place to lay the foundation for internal process of development and industrialization. Because of our historical experiences over time, the civil war and all that, we travel but we should also travel and try to come back home by remembering that we cannot leave our homeland to any other people.
“And as it was said in the process of this gathering, it was clear that even the activities of herdsmen, who have been creating crises in Igboland, trying to occupy the Igbo communities; once it is certain that those land resources are taken up by our people for buildings and having agro projects, it will no longer be possible for the herdsmen to occupy our land.”
He said that ADF was in the forefront of pushing for the approval of Blossom City Estate, as it made representation to the then governor since both ADF and Lolo Chimezie shared the same vision of Igbos in the Diaspora should invest in, and develop their areas, rather than waiting for the federal government to do it.
“You do not reject yourself, even if others reject you,” said Onyike, who quickly added: “We are saying that the process of self-determination is important for Ndigbo and we cannot advance developmentally and industrially without taking charge of our natural resources and our environments.”
However, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos-based Pinto Realty Limited, the initiator and promoter of Blossom City Estate, Lolo Nneka Chimezie explained that the main objective of the gathering was to introduce the company, Pinto Realty Ltd, and also its products, which are some of its real estate properties here in the southeast zone.
Lolo Chimezie said: “At least, we have one which is ongoing now at Udi, which is Blossom City. The Blossom City is actually at the boundary between Nike and Udi. But if you want to access Blossom City, you access it faster through Nike because it’s much closer to Nike than Udi. Another product we have is our new product, which is coming up, the Onuiyi Haven Estate, Awka in Anambra State.”
Lolo Chimezie, who is also the President of Igbo Women Assembly, further recalled that her company had previously partnered with other like-minded firms to develop a lot of estates particularly in the southwest zone of Nigeria.
“It might interest you to know that I’m the Director of Admin and Finance for NIPASON Real Limited, which is the promoters of Maranatha Garden City. Most of our estates are littered all over southwest from Ogun State to Lagos; we have about four estates that we have been able to develop in that partnership,” she said.
On the price and process of getting the necessary documents for the plots, the MD/CEO of Pinto Realty Ltd explained that her company had gotten all the relevant documents especially the Certificates –Of-Occupancy (C-Of-O), Customary Certificates-Of-Occupancy (CC-Of-O), among others, insisting that all a prospective buyer needed was to buy and build.
According to her, “The price right now is affordable. We call it Vision 2030 because we believe in the next six years, development will start in earnest. We are saying before the next six years, we will have life in Blossom City Estate.
“Right now, we are selling a plot N3million that is if you want to pay outright; that is for this year. But if you want to pay on instalment, it’s N4million a plot. We have the 500sqr metre, which is high density, and then the 750Sqm, which is the low density which goes for N6million if you are paying on instalment for now and N5million if you are paying outright.
“And then for the commercial and industrial, we have 2000 sqm, which we are selling N10,000 per sqm. That’s for now. I can assure you that in the next six months, the price will go up. It might interest you to know that from January till March 2023, this land was sold for N1m per plot. You can see the speed in the rate of appreciation.
“We want you to buy and come and start development. We are not here to speculate. Yes, you can buy and keep for it to appreciate but bear it in mind that we have a vision behind the Blossom City, which we want to actualize. So, any Igbo son and daughter can come and buy and build so that we join hands and save our youths from this sudden jappa or migration to other countries, thereby depopulating our land. We need to bring population to develop our home in Igbo land.”
The event witnessed the training of large number of Igbo youths on the nitty-gritty of marketing the Blossom City Estate to prospective buyers. The training was done by a real estate consultant, Peace Ukamaka.
