In the course of brokering land sale, in Lagos, Nigeria. I have often been asked by clients why they should buy from a real estate company when they could have bought cheaper from omoniles.
Well, buying Land from Omonile is like tossing your net into the ocean with blindfolds across your eyes, of course I don't say this to them but that's what it is. Now, let me explain why.
Before 1978, land owners had freehold on all their land, that means, land owners had control over their ancestral land and could sell to any buyer without the government’s consent. But theNigeria's Land Use Act of 1978 abolished all existing freehold systems.

*THE  LAND  USE  ACT WAS MEANT TO STANDARDIZE LAND.*

Administration systems across the country. It vested all urban land within a state in the state governor, and all non-urban land in the local governments in which they are found. Therefore, government own all land but in consideration to the ancestral owners, a system was devised where the government can excise portions of the land to the ancestral owners through a process called excision.
It is worthy to note that Lagos in particular, has a land resource management and administrative office (land bureau) in Alausa that keeps records of their land, control the municipal planning of the state and are also, the custodian of the town planning blueprints of the state......To be continue

*INVALID LAND OWNERSHIP*

Before any land is valid for sale, it should be registered with the land bureau and ascertained as not within government committed land. This is the major risk of buying from Omoniles. Most of them don’t know or bother to find out if their land falls within government committed land. If you buy such land, your investment will be forfeited and you would have lost more if you have commenced development of the land. Believe me,it's not worth the risk!

*CONTINUOUS  EXTORTION*

Omoniles have a way of extorting money from people who buy land from them. They have different tactics used to forcefully get money from the people who buy land from them. Even after full payment of the land you bought, they demand for more money from you in order for you to enter your own land, they demand money for you to clear your land, money for you to start your foundation, money for house opening, money for this, money for that and you find yourself paying more than you bargained for and wondering when it will end. This will ultimately increase the cost of developing your land until it is finished and increase costs beyond your original budget. The worst part is, you do not know when they will come or how much they will request and this may disrupt your project plans, cost and timelines. I have a family friend who had to pay double for his land for no logical

*DISRUPTION*

When you decide to start developing your land, Omonile start making their shocking demands. Suddenly, you are no longer their friend, they become violent when you cannot fulfill their demands and disrupt or even stop you from accessing the land that you have paid for. This will not only cause delay to your building project, but cause low morale on the people working on your land or supplying you building materials. Omonile go as far as harming your vendors and the workers on site or damaging your property. With the stress, cost and erratic nature of dealing with them, how would you have peace of mind?
Ro be continue........part 3 coming soon.

*AT RISK OF LOSING SOME PART OF YOUR LAND*

Once you buy land from Omoniles, you are at their mercy. They can resell your land without apologies and you will have to beg or fight for a resolution. If they are kind enough they may reallocate to you another piece of land which is usually of lesser value than the one you paid for or less desirable and you cannot do anything about it. Even if you decide to take them to court, you will be spending a lot of your resources and time not to talk about when they go diabolic on you. 


*RISKS OF BEING SWINDLED*

Countless stories abound of people who bought land and later found out that those lands were not bought from the original owners. They painfully find out when they take possession of the land only to discover that they have been swindled by miscreants. What is the point of buying cheaper land when you lose all your investments  and get nothing in return for all your trouble? It is better to go through a legitimate company with valid land and be certain of the source.


*TEDIOUS TO UNDERTAKE ALONE*

While there are risks involved in buying land from Omoniles, it is not entirely impossible to buy legitimate land from them. There are still some people that have successfully purchased land from Omoniles without trouble but it is a very long and tedious process.  It  requires your time, money and excellent detective work to find the authentic owners of the land. First, you have to get the land documents, which can be almost impossible to see, from the custodians of the land. Many times these lands don’t have land documents which makes it an even heftier task. Also, you have to conduct a search on the land documents to authenticate the land and ascertain the validity of the land and the authentic landowners and so forth and in the course of doing this; spending so much money and time you may find out that it was not legitimate after all. Believe me, when I say, it’s not worth it! It is safer and more convenient to buy from a legitimate company. Save yourself the trouble.


*NO DUTY OF CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY*

Duty of care can be defined as “an obligation, recognized by law, to avoid conduct fraught with unreasonable risk of danger to others” but the Omonile do not care what happens if the land becomes uninhabitable or overtaken by the government. They feel they do not owe it to you to check if the land is within government committed land or not. They do not protect your interest or care if it will favour you not, they are all about the money. If the land is in treat of an earthquake, they will sell it to you without remorse. In the local parlance, it has become, ‘ saahrah’. Do not fall victim to this, its not worth it and going to court will involve more costs, time wasted, stress, ill-will and even going diabolical......

..

[-+{}: