Rivers State government must do two things quickly to accelerate economic development in the state and aspire to compete with some other flying states especially Lagos.
The state must launch two funds: the first is Security Fund, while the second is Publicity Fund.
These came from a direct local investor, My-ACE China, known as the Mayor of Housing and a real estate success strategist and an entrepreneur.
China made these known at a radio interaction with newsmen on the receding days of the old year.
Apart from scaling up Ease of Doing Business, China called for setting up of a security fund to help fight insecurity and set up a Publicity Fund to help mount world class publicity strategy to promote Rivers State economic zone and attract investors.
On publicity fund, he said: “Port Harcourt needs to have a Publicity Trust where the state government is leading and other industry leaders like myself can make donations into publicity of River State.
“By this, outside River State, you think this place is a heaven. Really, this place is heaven because in terms of blue economy, Rivers has more blue economy than Lagos, but untapped.
“Rivers has the best landscape but untapped. Rivers has more movie landscapes, untapped. Lagos did a partnership for Lagos film village. The way they lauded it, if you go online the only place with a film village is Lagos. There is nothing like a film village in River State, but we have legends like Hilda Dokubo, Sam Dede and all that. There seems to be no government value appreciation of that movie industry. For this, Sam Dede and these guys are acting more in Lagos.”
He pointed at Yibo Koko, the man behind the Sekki on the culture of River State which he said has got more stars abroad than even in River State. “If we start louding it as something that happens here in Rivers State, it will attract people.
“Do you know an average movie empowers almost 5,000 people for making that movie because where they will eat ‘mama put’ is in that village. The people that will supply the props are in that village. Power supply people will be there. A lot of ancillary people for that movie will all come from there.
“So the location of a movie enjoys 80% to 90% of the movie production cost because it’s produced in that location.
“So if we can woo movie producers to come here, not only will it empower the immediate community where the movie is being produced, but it will showcase some of our unique landscapes to the world.”
China explained why he ceaselessly talks about housing and real estate matters in Rivers State and beyond.
He said it is part of his mandate as the Mayor of Housing, saying it is incumbent on him to promote and defend the housing sector and pushes for sanitization of land and housing sector.
China, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Housing and Construction Mayor Limited, the company behind the upcoming Alesa Highlands Sustainable Green Smart City, said what he met when he arrived Port Harcourt from Abuja few years ago was a locked city looking for exposure.
He said he met a green state ready to be exposed, and like the four Jewish lepers that found food and treasure in Syrian camp, he has been shouting it loud to the outside world to come join to explore the treasure in the City of Port Harcourt.
The Mayor of Housing said: “Yes, the beauty is when we came into the industry, we discovered that first of all, there was a lot of chaos to it and a lot of uncovered green value.
“So being somebody that believes in the exponential growth of values through association of value, I acted. There is a Metcalfe’s formula that says the number of users of a particular value doubles the value with users. So it’s a formula that calls $n^2$.”
He said Lagos promotes businesses; “Because of how much Lagos has talked about real estate, developed real estate, hyped real estate, there are so many operators that have come into real estate and with each additional operator, the old operators become more valuable.”
He said it is wrong for oil workers to live in Lagos and come to work in Rivers State, but said if more people come to Rivers State, houses would sell more.
China described the state government as a listening government and said the governor, Sim Fubara, did well to not only organize the first-ever economic summit in 2024 but for also setting up the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency (RSIPA) which he said has created a one-stop-shop for businesses and investors to sort out their problems.
Low cost housing is possible:
The housing guru said low cost housing scheme is possible but can only happen with breakthrough in indigenous building materials system.
“Anything that has to do with importation has a large barrier of Naira devaluation to cross. Once it crosses the Naira devaluation forex barrier, it becomes unaffordable for the average person. So if we can eliminate and exclude that forex and do it indigenously, costs will crash.”
He quoted Confucius, saying; “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.”
He said: “When we were bringing out clay in our communities and hay to build, nobody was homeless in our villages. Age grade system helped to build a house for each member.”
He said the age grade system transformed into cooperatives in the 60s and 70s. “That was why all the feats that were done in the agricultural boom of the 60s and 70s and early 80s were on the back of cooperatives. Cooperative banks were bigger than commercial banks in the 70s and early 80s.”
He said: “So for me the renaissance of housing low-cost housing revolution must be built on the back of indigenous building materials.
“And my company has been doing a lot of research on that and we’ll soon start shocking Nigerians because some of the houses that you feel are out of reach will shock you.
“And that’s why with all the effort that the state government made, one of the noblest housing feats in the recent years is the 20,000 housing. units at the Greater Port Harcourt City by the government. The Rivers State government did everything right. They subsidized the land for the PPP partner.
“They looked for an actual industry verified, with track record, developer that has passion for development.
“They made sure it was PPP and not “PPP” because there is a PPP that doesn’t work. The PPP that doesn’t work is Public Political Partnership. The one that works is Public Private Partnership.
“When government gives it to their political cronies it won’t see the light of day. So but they gave it to an actual practitioner. Everything was done right.”
He said Rivers State government must be commended and celebrated because there is no government in Nigeria including the FG doing 20,000 housing units directly or under PPP. The FG is doing 51,000 in the whole nation, not doing 20,000 in any single location.”
Read also: Rivers State is back in business – Investment promotion agency
Economic Triangle again:
He once again alerted Rivers, Abia, and Akwa Ibo states about an emerging ‘Economic Triangle’ along the three states that would grow bigger than Lagos economic zone because it would connect to the Gulf of Guinea economic zone.
He said the corridor would do well to have gas-powered energy system, free zone, maritime zone, industrial centres, and incentives for ease of doing business.
The Mayor of Housing said he recently found out the future of economy in Niger Delta region is the new economic triangle between Abia, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom states.
He said these three state governments need to come together and find out virgin lands in that area that will be dedicated to Free Trade Zone.
He said: “Lagos is doing it already. The Lekki Deep Sea Port is a concessioned private port. The limitation of Onne Port is the road, the Eleme-Onne axis. The government has done well on the road, but we need to do more so that goods can leave the port.
“If the port is efficient—Lagos economy is a port economy. The port is the only thing Lagos has in common with Rivers State. We have the oil; they don’t have the oil. They just have the headquarters of oil companies. We have the oil companies; we have the oil. So if we get our port working, that’s why I’m advocating for that economic triangle.”
It is the Abia-Rivers-Akwa Ibom economic triangle. It is right there at the boundary of Abia and Rivers State is the gas hub of West Africa: Owaza. That’s where the gas that powers Geometric is coming from. That is where the gas that powers Notore is coming from. That is where the gas that powers everything is coming from.
“So if we have a free trade zone at that boundary—where Geometric provides the power, Rivers State provides the gas and the port, and then the Aba creatives provide the shoes and the bags—we will have a manufacturing hub that can export to the world through Onne Port. And then Akwa Ibom provides the airline, Ibom Air, for cargo and for passengers. It is also building a deep sea port.”
He said the triangle is the future of the economy of this region. “If the three governors can drop any encumbrances and sit down and design an economic master plan for this region, we will shock Lagos and we will shock Africa.
Secret of real estate wealth: The bush today is the city tomorrow:
For 2026, Mayor of Housing advised thus: “In one minute, what you should be doing now is: don’t wait to buy real estate; buy real estate and wait. The best time to buy real estate was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
“And don’t look for Maitama or Asokoro or GRAs to buy. Go to the bush. The bush of today is the city of tomorrow. Lekki was bush 20 years ago; today it is the city. Greater Port Harcourt was bush 10 years ago; today it is the city. So go to the outskirts where it is affordable, buy acres, buy hectares, and wait.
“Don’t wait to buy; buy to wait. That is the secret of real estate wealth.”
