Ondo: Abdulsalam, Kukah , Ooni of Ife, Showcases Ojaja Park To the World.
By Olusegun HOSEA. 8th November, 2004
What can the government do to help us with the challenges of inadequate House ? We cannot continue to cry over spilled milk. We know that we have a housing deficit in the country. But we need to make do with what we have to get results.
We need to buy Nigeria. We need to produce Nigeria, including our housing needs.Our project here is a city on its own.
It’s 100,000 square meters. And we are trying to showcase what is possible in Nigeria. Practically, everything you see here, we know where it came from in Nigeria.
So our own mantra is at least 90% of things that are made in Nigeria will be used. Because a lot of people probably think we do things that are of inferior quality. No, it’s not true.
And today is the official showcasing of Ojaja City to the world. And the official showcasing is to actually let everybody that matters in this country to know that whenever there is a will, there is a way. A lot of good things can happen in our country.
And if we believe in ourselves, like this typical project, if we believe that Nigeria and Nigerians can do it, then our deficit of housing will continue to reduce gradually. Here is an integrated city that you don’t even need to go out. We have everything here.We have a five-star hotel here. We have a shopping mall here. We have a theme park.
We have a school.We have everything. Game center, children’s park, all the works.
So for us, it’s just to model something that has never been done in Nigeria. A lot of people are always very skeptical of our products, that homemade goods, Nigerian-made products. We are not skeptical.
We went all the way. Everything you are seeing here, we know the manufacturer. So going forward, we will now display it at the mall.
We have a mall here that basically lets us be very proud of our home. This is the only way we can grow the economy. We don’t need to leave governments to do everything.
And this is the reason why I invited the former president to come and bless this place, and also Reverend Matthew kukah, because they believe in peace, and they believe in youth engagement, because for us here, it’s all about youth engagement. And I believe Nigeria will be a better place.
How many youths are expected to work in this place? Oh, it’s a lot.
They are in thousands. You can’t even count, because it’s a lot. It’s over 100,000 square meters of land that was condemned.
It was a condemned land. We had to send fuel first. It took us almost two years to even reclaim the land back.
And we have a lot of youths here that have actually shown their strength, the things they can do, and how they can make it happen. I just mentioned to the general, I don’t know whether you listened, when I mentioned Victor Badeijo, a young, youthful, very energetic young man. We have a whole lot of them.
They are in thousands here. You can see, they are all working. And all the products here, the beauty is they are made here.So this is what can actually engage youth. And that is what I stand for on this job.
Sir, for somebody who wants to set up this kind of a thing, what should we be looking at, sir? We are working by faith here.
We are not talking of numbers. If you talk of numbers, it’s partial for us. It’s all about money.
We are not driven by money. When you are driven by money, you can’t do such a project. It’s not possible.
But for me, on the throne of my phobias, I just want to see a lot of youths and their lives being turned around. And I’m happy, I’m fulfilled. I have thousands of youths that are doing nothing, they are something today.
So that’s my objective. The numbers, you can’t even count. They are into billions.
But we don’t want to talk about numbers here. It’s about partial. What can we do for their country? We always blame government, you media people.Every time we put blame on government. What are we all doing individually? And you can see this. In fact, talk to them by yourself.Engage them. Interview them. Talk to them.
So if anybody wants to acquire maybe a certain launch or whatever, what is the package?
Well, like I said to you, it’s more of passion. The person that wants to acquire should believe in our dream. And we’ll plug into it.
Will there be something like this that the poor can afford? Oh yes. We are doing for different categories. The poor, the middle class, the lowest class, the middle, and the high end.So we are doing for every category. It’s encompasses all. So we’ll do a product like this for the younger, you know, in that category.
Thank you.
