Adkan's Maiden Raffle Draw Comes Up Saturday
Housing
By Dan Ede
At last the test case is here. This Saturday, Adkan Services Nigeria Limited (a wholly indigenous construction firm) goes to the court of public opinion to prove its credibility and transparency as it holds its first draw on its housing lottery.
Two months ago, Adkan stormed the nation's property market with an unusual bonanza of 10 terrace duplexes in its Abuja Model City (Gwarinpa), Abuja. The story was too good to believe: with just a N2000-entry ticket, a lucky winner becomes instant landlord of a N12.5 million-terrace-duplex in the capital city of the most populous black nation of the world, Nigeria. This figure brings the value of the 10 duplexes to be given away to N125 million.
This is not only an innovation, but also a strange phenomenon in an aggressive capitalist economy of the Nigerian type, where the unwritten code is 'how much can I plunder?'; and never 'want can I give back?'
It is indeed the strangeness of this concept that made many people to be looking askance at Adkan instead of cheering the trail blazing property giant.
Despite the company's spirited efforts, through the lottery's chief promoter and official banker, Infinity Homes, to convince Nigerians that the promo is "for real", many chose 'to wait and see'.
But August 14, 2004, is the day of reckoning for Adkan, as the first in a series of draws, scheduled to take place every two months, is slated for that date.
Mr. Eniola Olakunri, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Infinity Homes (Infinity Trust Savings & Loans Ltd.) maintains that all he needs to convince people on the reality of the promo raffle draws is the success of the first draw.
Speaking to THISDAY in his Abuja office last week, Mr. Olakunri said: "I have granted a series of interviews trying to douse this skepticism because people can't believe us. In fact, a lot of people don't believe despite all we have said. But I said 'okay, by the time they witness, hear or see on the television the first draw, I think that will erase all doubt".
He also disclosed that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has agreed to pick the winning tickets; and that other dignitaries from across the country have been invited to witness the maiden draw.
"Apart from that, in order to stem what people believe is an arrangee kind of thing, because you know the way we Nigerians think, from the on set we brought the Financial Standard newspaper to be the independent monitor. They have been involved in all the meetings we have been holding; and all the processes are known to them. If possible, people can even talk to them, to see that everything we are doing is transparent", Olakunri said.
After less than four years of operation, Adkan already nurses the feeling that all there is to business is not just making money. It recognizes the need for a mutually beneficial relationship between a corporate entity and the society, hence these raffle draws.
"The whole essence is that we want to do something unusual; we want to give back to the society. We want to see a situation where the ordinary Nigerian can own a decent house in Abuja, to disabuse the minds of those who believe that Abuja is for only the rich.
"As a good corporate citizen, we want to give something back; put a simile on the faces of people that ordinarily could not have been landlords in Abuja. We don't want a situation where it is only the rich that can afford these things", Olakunri told THISDAY, adding that N12.5 million is a lot of money to an average Nigerian.
The journalist-turned-banker has soft spot for the down-trodden in the Adkan Promo Raffle Draws, but regrets that he cannot influence the outcome. In his words: If I could have my way, I would have preferred mechanics, farmers, cobblers, bricklayers, 'okada' operators and so on, to be the winners of these houses. But that is where it ends because I cannot influence the outcome of the process. I cannot manipulate anything. But what I would want if I had my way is to see somebody that is down there win it and let me see the tears of joy on the face of that person on the television, in the newspapers, etc.", he said.
Because the exercise is not a profit making venture, the promoters of the Adkan raffle draws are not interested in the rate of ticket sales. "The tickets are selling, but we are not even bothered about the sales as contracted to banks and the rest of them. As I'm talking now, I don't even know how much has come in. But our decision is to give the houses away and not to depend on what comes in.
"The thing is, let people believe that it is real and that they can actually buy the ticket; and that when they buy it, that is all they need to have a chance of getting the houses", the PMI's boss explained.
Olakunri also extolled the virtues of Adkan, contending that the company deserved public commendation. "I keep saying, in a good country, Adkan should be given an award. I'm not saying that Nigeria is not good. What I'm actually saying is that ordinarily, the feat the company has been able to achieve so far is worth celebrating", he said.
He recounted some of these feats: "The first estate Adkan built was the Abuja Model City, Gwarinpa. That one, 250 housing units, was achieved within 18 months. No developer or construction company has done that before. The first phase of the Sun City estate will be commissioned by October this year (work on the phase which contains over 300 housing units started in September, 2003)", he said, hinting that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam el-Rufai, has rated Adkan the best private estate developer in Nigeria.
Olakunri equally defended the location of the 2000-housing-units Sun City estate which many people consider out of the way and largely unserviced. "The site is on one of the best locations you can get right now in Abuja. It is even better located than the Games Village because it is nearer the road than the Games Village.
"And that road you see that is untarred now, is the second ring road in Abuja. That makes it very vital; and the road has been awarded to contractors who have started work on it", he said.
He also disclosed that the FCT Minister, during his recent visit to the estate, promised to ensure that the road was tarred this year before the October target for the commissioning of the estate.
Infinity Homes, a primary mortgage institution, is a subsidiary of Adkan. But Mr. Olakunri chooses to say that it is into a strategic alliance with Adkan. Whatever the relationship, the two companies have formed a synergy that smacks of a one-stop-shop in mortgage financing.
|
