MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Richygold International, Chief Richard Agbapuru on behalf of his company, has promised to provide Nigerians with convenient and affordable houses in parts of the country as its maiden estate in Abuja has been opened to members of the public.
The industrialist gave the assurance at the recent unveiling of 96 housing units which were already at 90 percent completion stage at its Richygold Estate located in Apo District area of Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital.
The occasion which attracted personalities from various walks of life was a time for Chief Agbapuru who has made his mark in the pharmaceutical sector to beam some smile for his company’s modest achievement so far in the real estate sector.`
At the unveiling, one of the important guests; Dr. Festus Okoye who is currently the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commended the management of Richygold International for joining the Real Estate sector with the primary aim of providing affordable state of the art living apartments for Nigerians at a time the building industry like any other sector is having serious financial challenge due to the fall in naira value.
In his brief speech at the occasion, Chief Agbapuru disclosed that the idea of the estate was conceived in 2012 and by 2014 investors were already consolidating arrangements for a take-off. They never relented in spite of obvious challenges that tried to stall construction work at some stages. He noted that initially, access road was non-existent and while construction work began, both government and non-governmental bodies had come to demand different kind of taxes while the community members or the indigenes of the area were asking for outrageous bills for economic trees and so on.
The challenges had posed serious obstacle but the Richygold boss and his team never saw such hurdles as anything to deter them from achieving the goal of building modern day living apartments. Rather, they saw the challenges as a motivating factor towards actualizing their dream.
The Estate which is located on prime land, less than three kilometers to the city centre, has houses and apartments raging from N25 million to N80 million with world-class facilities such as supermarkets and children’s playground. The ambience is lively with good provision for constant water supply and steady electricity from public electric distribution company which invariably makes it less expensive for residents who would have easily resorted to the use of personal electric generating sets.
The New Beacon Arcademy located in the estate has added to the beauty and convenience of living in the place. It is a top-grade primary and secondary school that caters for the educational needs of children. Obviously, parents are happy to enroll their children in the school. Owners of the estate were not unmindful of the security needs of the residents at a time like now when insecurity knows no big or poor man.
Interestingly, the adequate security arrangement in place is one of the unique selling points that attract residents in addition to good facilities maintenance and management.
Richygold International is also not unmindful of the need to constantly keep the estate clean, hence its open drainage system creates opportunity for this to be achieved.
The peaceful environment and a feedback mechanism put in place easily allows the house owners, facility managers and residents to communicate regularly. Richygold management is pleased that they are now in the property market and are eagerly expecting to do more in Abuja and other viable places in Nigeria.