Sometimes earlier this year toward the end of May, a former colleague of a close friend & brother of mine reached out to me via WhatsApp Chat stating his intention to invest in real estate by developing residential apartments and probably secure a few plots for land banking, then build his own personal residence starting in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, because he was born & bred in Ibadan.

I gave his some professional advice & enlightenment on his plan and he indicated his readiness to start as soon as we can.

His obvious readiness gingered me to set the machines in motion. I made some calls & online sourcing before eventually setting out for physical sourcing & inspection of suitable sites.

I spent a whole day far inside and around Alao-Akala Expressway & Elebu, Ibadan and I was able to get some good deals.
A day or two later, I sourced around Sogunro & Tose areas of Moniya, Ibadan.
(We had 3 choice areas on our list to explore - Elebu, Ologuneru & Moniya)

I advised my client (Mr. M) based on the options we had on ground and few days after, we paid for a cornerpiece plot at Ayerokun Tose, Moniya after doing my due diligence on it.
We bought the land for #3,500,000 (#3.5M).
I perfected the agreement, Land survey was done & lodged.

NOTE:
Right from the start till this point of the project, Mr. M is yet to visit the project site. All communications & transactions has been online - we only communicate by WhatsApp & Gmail and I have been able to protect the trust he has in me.
He just transfer funds and I send visuals showing the progress of the project.

From the start, I assured him that aside my project fee we agreed upon, not a single Naira of his money will enter my pocket by any means and by the Grace of God, I have been able to uphold that. I am transparent and honest in my dealings.

There is a detailed Excel sheet of the project funds and expenses which I granted him online access to - He sees how every Naira is being spent. I do not inflate figures - any amount indicated can be verified to any point and I am confident.

Also, worthy of note is the fact that I only met Mr. M for a few times around 3 years ago through my friend in Lagos & we never communicated since then till when he reached out.
END OF NOTE

My Architect was briefed on the plan for the site and he started work on the building drawings.

I am Stephen Aworinde (Pristine Steve) - an Estate Surveyor and Valuer with special interest in Property Development.
Passionate about helping people meet their real estate needs with professionalism, honesty & integrity.

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Check below for the project updates...

Borehole specialists were brought to the site to conduct the Geophysical ground tests to determine the best suitable spot & depth for Borehole Drilling.

The Borehole drilling process.

The advised depth was 120 - 150m as indicated by the tests carried out, so I suggested 130m to Mr. M.

As the drilling was ongoing, from somewhere around 60m we started getting a nonstop flow of water, so around 90m they asked if they should stop at 100m but I said we should reach 110m.

We installed a submersible pump (1Hp INTERDAB Pump) with a 3000 litres water tank I think 2 days after and the borehole has been serving us quite well.

The Building drawings were sent to Mr. M and necessary adjustments were made after which I went to submit the drawings at the Akinyele Local Government Town Planning Office for approval with other required documents like Tax clearance certificate, Land Survey, Passport, SARAP.

SARAP is a report that is to be written by any Registered Town Planner (Paid for) but I prefer it to be written by a Town Planner chosen or recommended by the Planning office where the approval is to secured, so it will be as they want it to be written, to prevent any form of unnecessary frustration & delay. (This is Nigeria & we understand how these things work)

You will be given an application form to fill which will also be signed, stamped & sealed by all the professionals involved in the drawing & approval process - Architect, structural engineer, Town planner.

Building Assessment will be done using the building plan to determine the assessment bill to be paid into the state government account.
Other fees include Development levy, unofficial 'processing fee' or 'administrative bill'

To save yourself from the stress of moving around to pay the assessment bill & development levy into the government and the difficulty of verifying the payment at the state secretariat and problems that might arise like payment into wrong account which is irreversible, it is advisable you ask them at the Town Planning office to help you make the payments - you just need to pay them extra money for transport.
They know how they do these things fast.
They will provide you with the payment receipt when they are done.

Just ensure you are dealing with a notable officer in the department and make transfers instead of cash dealings in order to have evidence of payments.