*GOV SANWO-OLU - Who is in charge, you or landgrabbers*

He looked so sad as he walked into the muson centre venue of my Play Fajuyi. Wetin happen I asked my friend, my brother I am bleeding he responded.

Bleeding? Yes o land grabbers don kill me.. The extortion, the harrasment, the insecurity and the millions I have to spend to keep them off has killed my business and is wrecking my health.

At that point, I could only say take heart and walked away. Then I got another call again from another investor in Lagos and this time the story was more gory.

He had been confronted by land grabbers who gave him an option. He was asked to release specified units from his development or they encroached. He screamed how?

He had a JV with a family that legitimately owned the land, gotten all necessary Governmental approvals, paid all dues and fees both legitimate and other wise and yet he was now confronted with a force that defied all legal barriers.

His run towards the authorities both legal and traditional all fell futile as the level of involvement of almost all organs of government can only be imagined.

As he spoke, I remember seeing a sign somewhere in lekki, with the sign - This land belongs to Chief Bode George and the import of that sign hit me.

It was a lack of confidence in the system and authorities to protect his land from land grabbers who fear no one and the resort to his personal weight as the last bastion of protection.

If we are going to tell ourselves the truth, the issue of land grabbing is now an epidemic as roves of scavengers move in total complicity with traditional authorities and forces within the Lagos state system to cause mayen and stymy Government efforts in reigniting the economy.

Mr. Governor let me tell you very categorically that you will fail if you do not tackle this effrontery headlong and you must start from your system.

The agencies overseeing this area have been totally rendered ineffective as a result of their complicity. If u go to the lands registry for a search for example, they will give you result that can land you in jail.

This happened to me personally where a search result came out fake after we had disbursed N150m despite us holding a 'legitimate' result from your people. Na EFCC cell I dey shout my innocence.

You will have to carry out an extensive and Murtala Mohammed type of reform within your civil service. Heads must roll and younger people with passion and verve used to replace these ones who are utterly corrupt and whose activities if not tackled would make you look like a clay feet Governor.

Then the police have to be engaged. How you will do that one is what me I don't know sitting here. You see two sets of police teams on different sides of a land tussle.

One team from Denton and the other from Shomolu both led by senior officers and with different mandates. You do not have to be told that corruption is fighting.

The The traditional authorities. This is where the wahala is. The chieftaincy families and other such traditional power brokers. By their very nature, the structures are usually personified and not hinged on any type of standardised operational structure.

So Chief Lekan can give a go ahead and the step son of his 7th wife will stand up and the land buyer who has borrowed money from bank to build a factory or development is left in the middle bleeding like my friend watching his business and in some cases his dreams go down the drain as the system partners with thugs in wrecking it all.

You will not be able to perfectly delineate this situation well if u do not take into consideration the fact that what Lagos actually sells to the world is opportunity hinged on land which is in limited quantity.

Lagos has no oil or any meaningful natural resources it can sell but what it has in abundance its his positioning as a rich coastal trading post, and a huge market for opportunities and this brings in droves of investors creating jobs, revving the IGR of the State, infrastructural development amongst others making Lagos one of the most desirous investment opportunities on the continent.

But with this land grabbing menace, we may begin to see a push back. We are already seeing Ogun state better positioning itself and making ease of business a little bit better than in Lagos.

The wahala in Lagos for a business man is too much.. From multiple taxation, to power challenges, to infrastructural challenges and all that and now with land grabbing added to it, you will begin to see why Lagos is just so tiring.

Mr. Governor Sir, you may have to set up a task force to critically engage all stakeholders on this matter with the strict mandate to look at this issue very succinctly with a clear aim of streamlining land delivery with ease to legitimate users.

Thanks

*Duke of Shomolu*

Land grabbers and area boys are now going after property owners in Lagos. If you're not Yoruba, it's even far worse. These jobless guys will open office on your head and will bleed you dry.

You can't even involve the police or government to intervene. The more the economy gets bad, the more these criminal youths get emboldened and desperate. Some property owners have been killed because of these menace.

If you're from SS or SE it would be in your best interest to stay away from property investments in Lagos. There are good investment opportunities in Asaba, Onitsha, Uyo, Enugu etc. No go kill yourself for nothing.

The government that allows it forgets that an injustice to one is an injustice to all. It will be too late for them by the time what goes around comes around.

But I think things have fallen apart too much. The unelected leaders you expect to save you are selected by the same thugs that torment you. Any word from his excellency against the kingmakers (the thugs) will mean no more selection of his excellency. Na why even the "supirim kwort" no fit challenge the misleaders.

Invest in Lagos at your own peril

My brother,this your write up is very true
The biggest problem facing Landowners in Lagos are the Landgrabbers known as omo onile
I know of a senior colleague in this business who lost close to 200m on a project and is on the verge of total bankruptcy.
Land business in Lagos is very sensitive and full of risk,the only resource available in Lagos is Land and the truth is that most land in Lagos have been sold at one point or the other
Apart from doing your search at the ministry of Lands,you need to do another search at the courts to determine if there is any cases on the property and also what I call Local search

This involves you going to the community to ask the indigenes of the community who are the real owners of the property
In all,the Lagos State government needs to seriously empower the Land Grabbers Task force to crack down on these group of people who are seriously making it difficult for Land owners to do business in Lagos

I seriously encourage anyone who intends to have a property at the Ibeju Lekki Industrial Hub to click the link below for more details
https://www.nairaland.com/7905580/introducing-silvergate-estate-ibeju-lekki

Warri is something else.

You only hear and see past glory.

Night life is long dead,

Tricycle operators is now their main oil companies.

The deve-boys are now seriously hungry.

Lagos is threading on same path

SSFeedsNigeria:
Land grabbers and area boys are now going after property owners in Lagos. If you're not Yoruba, it's even far worse. These jobless guys will open office on your head and will bleed you dry.

You can't even involve the police or government to intervene. The more the economy gets bad, the more these criminal youths get emboldened and desperate. Some property owners have been killed because of these menace.

If you're from SS or SE it would be in your best interest to stay away from property investments in Lagos. There are good investment opportunities in Asaba, Onitsha, Uyo, Enugu etc. No go kill yourself for nothing.

When we tell them that Onitsha/Owerri axis is rate high in urban metropolitan area they will start wailing. Let them continue their madness. The rate of building up in SE and SS is very rapid now because of their madness

SSFeedsNigeria:
Land grabbers and area boys are now going after property owners in Lagos. If you're not Yoruba, it's even far worse. These jobless guys will open office on your head and will bleed you dry.

You can't even involve the police or government to intervene. The more the economy gets bad, the more these criminal youths get emboldened and desperate. Some property owners have been killed because of these menace.

If you're from SS or SE it would be in your best interest to stay away from property investments in Lagos. There are good investment opportunities in Asaba, Onitsha, Uyo, Enugu etc. No go kill yourself for nothing.

After the Obi lost at the election and the SC you hateful Obidient have resulted in blackmailing, just be warned that Yoruba are not Fulani that you can abuse and go scot-free. When you throw a pebble be prepared to receive stones. Yoruba will give you wotowoto and dig out all your rotten story they have been hiding over the years

You think you lots can de-market Lagos or Southwest.

No investor will wish to relocate to region where SIT AT HOME is observed at will.

Region where there are killings, cannibalism , robbery and kidnapping

No same investor will visit South East to settle

Lagos is full of touts. Honestly my future business plans does not involve lagos. Touts will disturb you when building , they will disturb you when transporting your goods and they will still disturb you if you make call while driving (Orile side of Badagry express )

ThatFairGuy1:
You think you lots can de-market Lagos or Southwest.

No investor will wish to relocate to region where SIT AT HOME is observed at will.

Region where there are killings, cannibalism , robbery and kidnapping

No same investor will visit South East to settle

I have seen numerous videos of Yoruba eating people but never seen a video of others doing so. Yorubas are the scum of the earth, rotten piggy slaves of Fulani raiders