GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR, DOMINION PEARL PROPERTIES-MR EMORDI CHRISTOPHER EZEKIEL

 Termed of a man of many parts with on the job position of pro-activeness, Mr Emordi Christopher Ezekiel has indeed come to see, and had conquered many seen and unforeseen hurdles in all facet of his professional calling especially at his present disposition as the Group Managing Director, Dominion Pearl Properties.

In his erstwhile assignment as a guru in real estate business had redefined operations at that areas as his brilliance and on the job technocratic prowess had not only earned his company” Dominion Pearl Properties” an improve genuinty profile but had endeared him to his business colleagues as they have confident in his ability, genuity of his lands and his discretionary powers to perform. Over the years, Mr Emordi Christopher Ezekiel is often called an all round real estate guru because of his exploits in every function and aspects of real estates, as history had it that his record breaking achievements while he held his company about a decade ago still stood unmatched. He at a time became real estate albatross at both lands and other areas of the businesses.

We are inspired to celebrate his remarkable life and accomplishment in Nigeria.  He is a man of enormous and proven integrity, tenacity and character wise. His passion about a united Nigeria is a common thread that runs through his steering career in public service, which has remained so, till now. He remains the height of moral ethical and other standards that people must strive to attain. The entire people of Nigeria will always remember him with appreciation, his immense contributions and notable inputs to national development and the growth of true federation and democracy. He’s indeed fulfilled. Talk of great achievers in the African continent Mr Emordi Christopher Ezekiel stands very tall to this colossus of our time, hardworking, dedicated seriously towards serving humanity. Very patriotic, loyal and an accomplished man with a glowing passion for excellence. A creative, visionary and pragmatic leader revolutionizing the real estate industry, an entrepreneur, author, consultant and public speaker. He is a graduate from a prestigious Nnamdi Azikiwe University where he obtained a diploma degree in law and also Bachelor’s degree in sociology. His spiritual life is not left out as he has served an Executive of different bodies in his church where he is currently serving as the youth coordinator of living faith church asaba. And also he serves as the Association State Youth Pastor of the youth Alive Fellowish of Delta State.

Going down to the grassroots, he started Dominion Pearl Properties in the year 2019 as the Group Managing Director, a fast growing real estate company in the Southern part of Nigeria. He is a member of the following professional bodies: Member, Real Estate Developer Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Member, African Real Estate Society (AFRES), Member, The Billionaira Conclave An Alumni of the Global Real Estate Executive Bootcamp (GREEB), An Alumni of prestigious School of Estate and Business (SOEB). He is happily married and blessed with lovely children.

Mr Emordi Christopher has demonstrated exceptional leadership and an unwavering commitment to excellence, driving his company to extraordinary heights. Under his dynamic leadership “Dominion Pearl Properties” has consistently excelled, earning acclaim for their quality and genuinely commitment to excellence.

Hear him:

Can you brief us about yourself and your involvement into the Real Estate and Properties?

First of all my name is Mr Emordi Christopher Ezekiel as you all know, I am the GMD of Dominion Pearl Properties. I’m involved in Real Estate and Agriculture; we are the developers of City of David Estate and the First Solar Power Estate in the Southern part of Nigeria. Dominion Pearl Properties just launched its newest estate which is called the Kings Court platform for children. I’m also the Vice Chairman, Real Estate Developers Association Delta State, Nigeria.

 What are the vision and mission of Dominion Pearl Properties?

The vision of Dominion Pearl Properties is to add value and excellence. Like I always tell people, you cannot just wake one day, and say you want to start real estate business. For example, in our estate, every of our products have a particular need that they are solving. We don’t just throw out estate like every other person, every of our estate have a story to tell. Just like our newest estate, the Kings and Queens Court is specifically for children. We realize that parents over the time only invest in their children’s education and not also looking at other parts of investment for their kids. If you are able to span over five years, you discover when your child graduates from school, that child can venture into that land spanning over millions and start a business. So apart from educational investment, we should try to venture into a lifetime investment for our children. Our first Solar Power Estate, which is The City of David Estate immediately after Issele-asagba junction. It’s a zero pollution estate where they don’t use generators, is completely solar powered and every of our estate has a story to tell just like the Dominion Garden Estate phase 1 and 2 right behind Admiralty University is peculiar, and second to none. Every of our estate is planned and approved by Delta State Ministry of Urban Development and Town Planning, which you can’t get from every other estate and so for us, we add value and excellence to every of our clients. There’s no product you acquire from us that does not add value to our clients even down to our service delivery. Since over five years of operation, we have not had one police or court case, no clients has ever come to the office to shout or complain, but we are even the ones disturbing our clients to come take physical possessions of their properties. Our customers have a good story to tell, like our Kings and Queens Court which we launched two weeks ago, over thirty-five plots have been sold. And so, we have this niche of value and excellence, that’s our trend to define the real estate sector.

 In your company, what procedures and affordability price do customers go in securing a property and as well fulfilling customer’s satisfaction?

In our property acquisition, which is a three way procedure. First and foremost, we pick our land acquisition form and is a form that is designed with the help of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, we are registered with the EFCC, under special control unit for money laundering, we have a form where we get our bio data and to know, also in that form there are specific questions we get to know who takes over your property in case you are not around or peradventure something goes wrong or happen to you, we will not hand your property to anybody except the person you want to fill the land acquisition form and after you are done filling it, the next thing we do is to put a date for site inspection, see for yourself and when you have seen it and you are okay with what you have seen, you therefore make payment for the property and when is done, you make payment for legal document. Then the development levy comes years after when the estate is properly developed, you will see the need for the development levy paid. These are just our three steps to property acquisition.

Getting affordable property is a very relative word because what might be affordable to A, might not be affordable to B, so as an organization we are currently designing a product that is basically targeted at civil servant within the next two months it will be launched. We are trying to get the government to give us a pay point in the computer section, because we discovered over time that civil servant cannot pay one million or more for properties and real estate developers association will always create affordable properties and when you talk about affordable, people are looking at how cheap it is. The truth is that, land is not cheap and that is the mistake individuals make in land acquisition. You must understand the market value of every property you want to buy so you don’t fall into the hands of scammers, for example, I had someone who met me to sell a property that is about hundred million, coming to tell me that is a distress sale of twenty million. No matter how distress it is, you cannot sell something worth millions to come at distress price. I was able to dictate because I have an understanding of the market value, but if it were to be some clients, they will be like this is cheap, they give them money and the next day you don’t see them. We are looking at this particular product we are designing to get the low income earners to be able to become landlords with ease. We are putting effort to make the government have relationship with us, go to site and see the lands, this is a design whereby even as small as thirty/filthy thousand naira monthly, will spread over two to four years depending on how fast they are able to pay us. We have written to the government, and so you register with us, we send your names to the government they deduct directly from your salary to us and raise a single cheque for us. Let’s assume five civil servant register from us, and they are to pay twenty thousand each, the government sends in a cheque of hundred thousand to our company. So that is one area we are making our property affordable to the low income earners.

Looking at the current economy situation of the country, what impact has it had ever since as regards to getting properties and making sales?

The truth is those of us in the real sector now, our sales and transactions largely comes from our clients in diaspora. Investing into properties now is easier for our clients in diaspora. There is one of my clients who just sent two thousand dollars recently, and that amount was able to get him a property because of devaluation of naira unlike before. Then also, coming down here, our people are really trying, I said it yesterday at a town hall meeting with Fidelity bank where we were talking about shares and one of the things I told them is that real estate investment is the only real investment that its return is incomparable or unimaginable. I advice them, that any investment they should do, it should be real estate investment no matter how small. The little place you are calling bush, if you can get a plot of land there for about three hundred thousand naira now, within the next two to three years you won’t be selling it for that same three hundred thousand naira but higher, without you doing anything on it. So the best time to invest in any economy is when the economy is shaking, it might sound awkward but that is the truth because now everybody wants to sell what they have to survive and the wise ones are taking advantage to buy it. This is the best time to hold whatever real estate investment you have. So the economy being shaken and all that, it has always been, is not new. During Obasanjo time, if you check well those that remained in real estate then, are those that are flying out. It might not just be real estate firm, but whatever you can lay your hands to do, try and make investment because when the economy bounce back that investment you made will have double value. As it stands now, the economy does not, like what I tell people, real estate is not a seasonal business that is affected by either the economy or the weather, no! It is a business that is in its season and out of season. Real Estate Developers who invested then, is now they are buying big cars and all that, people are complaining the economy is bad, but for us it doesn’t operate that way. Only when it gets to affect us is when we are doing developmental projects. For example, our Dominion Garden Estate, we fencing is about forty million, the proposal we are getting now for the phase two which is same size of land is about eighty million. So we are skeptical, the rod and building materials are all high. There is also something we are pushing, because we are currently having a meeting in casablanca in August with developers which entails building outside the blocks, that is why cement is dancing the way is dancing. If you go to some countries, many of them don’t build with blocks, but with woods, bricks e.t.c and these things are cheaper and safer, you can’t see bricks catch fire and is cooler when you build with bricks. These are some of the areas we are trying to see how we can mingle round the economy to make things easier for real estate developers and our clients.

As much as you have successes, what challenges did you face or probably facing now, the plans to put in place and your hopes?

First and foremost, there is no champion without a scar; there is no glory without a story. The biggest challenge I face every day, which is not a worn of thing, as an organization is keeping to our brand. Brand means when your name is mentioned on someone mind, what comes to their mind, is it a company that cheats, do they keep to their promises and so on. For us, we have clients that have paid huge amount of money to keep without telling us the properties they want to invest in. That is to tell you the level of trust they have built towards us. I just told you earlier, that we have launched an estate two weeks ago and we have sold out thirty-five and none is less than 1.5 million per plot. And is not that is a full fledge estate, is a pre launch, which simply means this is a proposed area, where we have not done anything and within two weeks, people have subscribed into thirty-five of it. That is to tell you the level of trust they have and that is what keeps us and the biggest fight we fight everyday not to disappoint them. Whether you like it or not issues will come out that will make you not to deliver but I will rather allow everything to go down and for me not to deliver to my clients. It’s a fight I fight on a daily basis keeping to our brand identity. Like this morning, the accountant just told me if am expecting money, that someone just paid into the account, and I told her, don’t worry we will know who the person is and truly the person called and it happens to be one of our clients in abroad requesting for some numbers of plot and that we should keep it for him. Now, if this person do not have such trust in us, how can we do it, else, it would have resulted to a constant fight. Our brand is making sure that we stand the test of time despite the challenges, notwithstanding.

Based on the increase of ingenuity in properties as you tackled earlier, what is your advice to anyone who wants to acquire a property today both for personal and commercial purposes?

I always inform the public that there is original and others will always have a fake and personally I blame clients or individuals. When you want to buy a car, you get a mechanic, when you are sick you look for a doctor, when you want to get a furniture, you look for a furniture man, and so why is it that anybody that want to invest in real estate like going on their own, why? It is a big mistake. Before you acquire any property, there is what we call due diligence, in fact due diligence in land acquisition is a course I did for over one month. As a person that is conducting your due diligence, the first thing you need to understand is the market value of the property you are buying. So a property that is supposed to be sold for one million naira and they are telling you ten thousand naira, already there is a question mark. You need to know that there are procedures for due diligence, is not a worn of thing. My advice to anyone that wants to buy a property is that they should please look for a professional. As a professional when we conduct due diligence, there are something that I will see  that you as an ordinary person wouldn’t  see, for example, there is how beacons are placed, that dot on it speaks volumes. If I go to a site with beacons, I will be able to tell you the next beacon and the next number from the first number that I have seen, when I get there and I don’t see it, there is an issue. It is not something you go ahead and do on your own, involve a professional. We have fake real estate individuals and real estate companies, and that is one area REDA Delta State actually working on now to curb them because the truth is, is not easy for anyone to acquire property and as an association, we should be able to protect them. A lot of real estate do not conduct their due diligence properly, and they do not even register their company to the government and that is the essence of demolishing by the government especially when their properties or the estate are not registered. My Company “Dominion Pearl Investment” which is Dominion estate phase one and two has already obtained and gotten  approved documents from Delta State Ministry of Lands and Survey under town planning and urban development. The government can’t give you these documents and tomorrow come to demolish your buildings. So quite a number of estate do not have these things and not just having them, some of them are not even aware because they just see real estate money as an oil well in Nigeria and you see, they just have money and go to one bush in a community and then start a real estate, there is more to it. And so we are going to be having a meeting with the land developers in Asaba to intimate them on documentations. So it is good to ask questions before getting any properties , this is your money we are talking about.  Many police cases when you mention some real estate companies. So ask questions, take your time, verify before you pay for anything and all these things are embedded in due diligence. A friend of mine took me to his land and showed deed of conveyance and I told him, you don’t have a land and he asked why. I told him this is a deed and anybody can sign deed, what he was showed is that he is the owner of that land? Before you bring anybody to buy that land, you should, first register to the government and then fence the land, pay the youth development levy, by the time we were through with all that, issues came out and we were able to settle those issues before he can sell the land. If you check the land rules as from 1979 the section two says, possessions is two third ownership of land. If you don’t have possession of your land, you are not the owner. So this due diligence in land acquisition is something you can’t exhaust in one day there are a lot of things involved. People complain that real estate land is more expensive and that is true, for example, getting these documents from the government is not one naira, like on Tuesday in our new estate, the government are going there to conduct and if you open Delta State Master plan for Admiralty University you will see our estate there, so these are the things we undergo and they are very necessary.

When it comes to c of o, as a developer i don’t crave for c of o, the disadvantages of it, out ways the advantages. When you get it, all you are simply telling the government is that, you have arrived and you tend to pay annual task yearly for that property and Is subject to increase anytime by the government. It also reduces your ownership of land, when you acquire a land and register your deed and do your survey, it gives you ownership of that land for a lifetime even generations after you but when you do c of o, it reduces you to ninety nine years, and after that year, somebody else can come out from nowhere can go and register that place with his name. Usually c of o is meant to be one document for a particular land but the Nigeria system has dealt with c of o, and thereby having two or more than  for a particular land because of the Nigeria factor. When you get a property first and foremost get a deed of conveyance, get it registered with the government and let them sign, then go and register your survey plan and you are good to go. If you are building on it, please get an approved building plan on that land, if is for an estate once you get your estate document from Ministry of lands, you are covered if you don’t do all these, when court case arises, the first question they will ask you in court is what have you done in that land. Another thing is, when you are signing a deed of conveyance please don’t put date for your safety. All these are necessary.

Where do you see Dominion Pearl Properties evolving in the next few years?

In the next few years we are going into the Diaspora market, by next year we are moving outside the shores. Within the next five years we will become a global brand.

Being a philanthropist that you are and from your wealth of experience, let us know about your guiding principles and what would you want those aspiring to be like you, emulate from?

Last Sunday I started my foundation officially and I told them success for me is not in acquisition of wealth but making your next moment happier, and making the world a better place. And what I tell people is that life will never give to you what you deserve, whenever challenges comes at you don’t cry over it but make the best out of it. In your quest for success, let people around you be part of it, you are not rich until you are able to reach out to people and so that is it.