The Chief Executive Officer of Fine and Country West Africa, Udo Okonjo, has advised women to exploit opportunities offered in real estate investment.
In a chat with Financial Street on Wednesday, she said that the physical and emotional violence among women increases as the income disparity between men and women widens.
With real estate investment, she said, women can become more confident at home of places of work.
“Though some women have been able to attain parity in real estate investments, some challenges such as local traditions, which stifle a woman’s sense of confidence in investing in real estate, with fears of appearing to be too masculine or too independent, may arise.
“Many women invest in secret, thereby losing confidence, or running the risk of not following due process by using quack agents, who may even take advantage of their secrecy,” she said.
For the CEO of Afriland Properties, Ugo Oshogwe, the implication is that some women still need to shatter the glass ceiling to confidently climb the property ladder and firmly stay there.
This, she maintained, requires not just integrity on the part of men, but also a healthy gender mix in work places.
Further, Okonjo explained that, from the legal perspective, there were no restrictions to any Nigerian woman from investing in real estate because “the Land Use Act is universally applicable,” irrespective of gender.
Her words, “Section 43 of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to acquire property anywhere in the country; meaning that despite the limitations, women should go out there, invest and own properties.”
