Preparing a Land bank for an Industrial Future in Ogun State, Nigeria

Mr ‘Lufemi and Mrs Bamise (not their real names), a newly married couple decided they needed to prepare for their future in Nigeria by acquiring Real Estate Assets. Their intention was to own a land bank, a large acreage of titled land over the next few decades which they can in turn lease or sell for a fortune in spite of the double digit inflation and other economic conditions. I got their budget and set out to work. I sat with them to advise and we eventually concluded based on certain facts available to my company at that time that they would begin with the city of Abeokuta where I had gathered facts about the government policy and settlement growth patterns mapped by research and satellite imagery.

We obtained their land with the small sum of N5,000,000($13,500 at the time) obtained 5.5 Acres within the city’s growing industrial area. We of course went through our rigorous research to be sure of the prospects of growth in this area. We also had to get our ears in Government to know the accurate political direction of the state with regards to urban development. Speculating is what we did but as with every business and trade you get your facts right and hope it grows in value. You know, buy keep and hope one day there is scarcity high demand and you cash in on the opportunity. Aside this we also did a lot of legal ground work, you know how Nigeria can be absolutely sure so you check and check again and cross check again. Land Investigation requires a great degree of probing before committing, because here the Law supports the first person to get title.

Anyway, we began to process their C of O and what we had guaranteed would take 2 months extended into 6 months due to the reforms the State Governor is working at in view of the new C of O issuance regime in the state. Mr Governor intends to have people receive their title document within 28 days of registration using e signature and fast tracking the bureaucratic processes. In the past it used to take up to 2–5 years(except when the former governor briefly introduced the Home Owner Charter Program). So despite our 6 months lag we feel we have advanced and we are ready to partner the Dapo Abiodun Administration to get property owners across the state their right documents and approvals within good time.

My Job as an expediter is to make it possible to get through Government Documents related to landed property very quickly by helping you prepare your relevant documentation, helping you make payments into the available channels and leading the government agents through the inspections and other procedure as we did for Mr Lufemi and his wife.

Back to the story, we did the Land transaction in 2019 and today a plot of land goes for 600k in that location. 5.5acres is about 24 plots so we are looking at N14,400,000($28,800 in today’s fx rate) a significant capital gain even with negative conditions in the economy. That is about 188% profit! Why? Well, among other things we were able to find out that the state was extending the industrial corridor in the area while they intended to also set up a residential estate just 10km across the Highway(they have commenced and almost sold out the estate). We project another 200% capital gain over the next 3 years which should preserve their money well even at double digit inflation. The story is going well, for now we hope to acquire more acres for their Land bank, hopefully we can help them pay for their children’s college education in the next couple of decades or whatever it is they want to do when they eventually sell. So folks, that’s all for now…