New Ooni promises Ife urbanisation, economic empowerment through capital creation

The new Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has said he will inject new strength and emphasis into the urbanisation of Ile-Ife, which, he notes, has not taken its rightful position as the ‘source’ of black civilisation given its wealth of history, culture and tradition that date back thousands of years.

Ogunwusi, who was selected from an array of contestants to the coveted stool, revealed that his dream of Ile Ife was a kingdom strategically positioned to empower its people socially, economically and traditionally to bring about the desired developments, adding that with his resolve to transform Ile-Ife, he would leave no stone unturned to put it on the world map.

In a statement obtained by BusinessDay, the new Ooni promised further, “having found ourselves in such state of affairs where the potential of the land remains untapped and its people lacking economic and social emancipation, we should take it upon ourselves to redress this situation.

“I have no doubt that Ife will be great again due to its economic dexterity. Ife has one of the largest land mass in the southwest beaming with natural resources including three out of the four factors of production, land, labour, and entrepreneurship, and with our great resolve, we shall work towards capital creation.”

The new Ooni, born 40 years ago into the Giesi Ruling House, Ojaja Royal Compound of Agbedegbede, in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, said from birth, “his life has been a journey and explains that it has been one that he embarked on without knowing he was being groomed for the present position,” adding that at an early age, he became very enterprising with great knack for building something out of nothing.

A big time property developer, Ogunwunsi began his strides in the real estate sector with various dredging and land reclamation projects in Lagos State. With his EssentialHomes, a real estate product launched in January 2014, he reached out to deliver affordable upscale homes to the middle and low-income earners.

The first phase of this product (The Southpointe Estate, Lafiaji Road, Lekki, Lagos State) started in February 2014 and has been successfully delivered within a year with approximately 60 percent occupancy recorded. This attests to the huge market demand and acceptability of the EssentialHomes brand. He also led the team that developed the prestigious Northpointe Estate Phases I, II, III and Midland Court on Chevron Drive Lekki Lagos.

In addition, the new Ooni has successfully undertaken more multi-billion naira projects across Lagos and its environs including Jacob Mews Estate Yaba, Lakeview Park I and II Estates Lekki, the ongoing Golden Leaf Estate Lafiaji Lekki and Grand Lake Estate Ajah, Lagos. The Lord’s Estate, in partnership with Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, the piling of Lagos Homes, Ilubirin, Lagos and the upcoming Ife Grand Resort and Leisure.

He has a clear track record of community development starting with his hometown. Recently, he donated transformers worth N200m to communities in Ife, explaining that “the beneficiaries were not to determine who the next Ooni would be; I was just moved by the challenges which various communities of the town are experiencing as a result of electricity problem; the distribution of these transformers is not to induce anyone so that they would make me the Ooni”

Four years ago during the occasion of his mother’s funeral, the community was without electricity and embarked on a ‘Power Project’ to install transformers and light poles that generated electricity, which, till date, is serving the good people of that community.