By David AFOLABI
“HOUSING CARE AND SUPPORT FOR NIGERIANS – EXPLORING THE OPTIMALITY DIMENSION TO A CRITICAL REAL ESTATE DECISION.”
All roads lead to Ndoma Egba Hall of the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) on Tuesday, 26th May, 2026, as Professor Isaac Ayodele Olatunji, a Professor of Applied Valuation, presents the 24th Inaugural Lecture of the University, which also happens to be the first from the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management (EDM).
Under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, The 24TH INAUGURAL LECTURE titled “HOUSING CARE AND SUPPORT FOR NIGERIANS – EXPLORING THE OPTIMALITY DIMENSION TO A CRITICAL REAL ESTATE DECISION” will also be attended by top academia in the University and beyond.
The lecture will seek to provide answers to key questions that bedevil the housing sector, especially for Nigerian families.
It looks at the importance of Data and Long-Term Tenure to restore the dignity of the Nigerian family in the provision of essential housing for all citizens of Nigeria.
70th Birthday Celebration
Professor Olatunji will also be marking his 70th birthday and retirement on Thursday, 28th of May to round off his decades of meritorious service in the academic world.
According to the summary of the Inaugural Lecture made available to NewsAfricng.com, Professor Olatunji examines the critical Real Estate Decision that every family would make at least once in a lifetime.
“That decision ought to be supported by optimality, underscoring my Inaugural Lecture title.
“In his epochal book titled “The Wealth of Nations”, Adam Smith, as reiterated by Barlowe (1986), declared that the wealth of nations consists of 5 major elements: The land resources, which include the Housing subsector of the Real Estate sector. The workforce. The technological advancements. Infrastructure development and Military might.
“Early in this millennium, Real Estate constituted nearly one-half of the wealth in the world and thus, in terms of value, represented the most significant investment class. According to Corgel, Smith, and Ling (2000), real property comprises 49 percent or $21.41 trillion of the world’s wealth ($44 trillion), whereas stocks and bonds comprise 25.5 percent and 18.8 percent, respectively.
“Coming up to recent times, Karakozova (2005) reiterated that real property is animportant component of the income and wealth of nations. By year 2021, as revealed in the RICS (2021) Report, about 70% of global wealth was held in land and properties.”
Professor Olatunji, in closing, offers key recommendations for all levels of people involved in the housing sector.
For the government, he said: “The Government should ensure the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a self-funding, collateralized housing market as well as Institutionalization of the OPTi Decision-Support System (DSS). The stakeholders should popularize the use of the Optimality Index (OPTi) for all public-sector and private sector housing counselling.”
For the Professional (ESV), he added: “There should be the creation of a lucrative, high-tech consultancy niche in Housing Care and Support. This should be complemented by transitioning the role of Estate Surveyors & Valuers from a mere pedestrian level of “Finding Agents” to intelligent housing Procurement Counsellors.
And for the Citizen of Urban Nigeria, he pointed: “It provides a predictive guarantee of housing well-being, reducing the ‘burden’ of real estate value on the family budget. Takes the guesswork out of decision-making. Goal: Move the 45.8% of Nigerian households currently “At-Risk” into “Moderate” or “Good” optimality tiers through objective data-matching and optimal house choice decisions.
In conclusion, he observed: “We can keep building 550000-700000 houses a year, but if we do not fix how end-users choose them and how long they can stay in them, we are just building ‘magnets of despair’ against ‘magnets of Hope’.
“It is time to use Data and Long-Term Tenure to restore the dignity of the Nigerian family. If housing choices are made purely on sentiments, ignorance, personal idiosyncrasies or mere hunches, the FG Renewed Hope Agenda for Housing may be misconstrued as a failure by beneficiaries when it is actually a success.
