₦airaland Forum

This Lagos state and Nigeria as a whole can be a very frustrating bunch and you neither know what and where something annoying is going to throw you off guard. To buy a land in Lagos is Problem. To Investigate the Owners of the Land is Problem. To investigate Government Ownership of the land is Problem. To perfect your papers with Government is Problem. To get Building Plan approval is Problem. Na wetin?

I bought a land in Badore 3years ago and frankly speaking, i just left it there. Before i bought it, i did extreme due diligence. I used a lawyer to verify the owner and the families selling it. I went to Alausa to get a surveyor to know whether it was free from Government acquisition and he told me it was free. I paid all the fees to the omoniles and fenced the property and was glad i did it and left it there till i was ready to build it. Some few months back now, i decided to apply for my building plan approval and upon investigation i was told i must get the Governor's consent before i can obtain it. I started the process to get the Governors consent and a rough bill of almost N1Million naira was given to me as my assessment fee and i had to pay like N250,000 to start the process. In between the payments and the immediate receipts, i got a report that the land was not free and it encompasses where the 4th mainland bridge is to pass so they won't grant me a Governor's consent.

I went back to Alausa and one surveyor told me that its a lie that the land is Free after charting it with their computers. Another one said that i should go for the land information department to get the true state of the land and after i paid N15,000 to get it in Alausa i was told that the land is not free that it is under Government acquisition. Now i looked at all the houses around me and wondered how all these beautiful houses sprang up and am the only one that is worrying. You need to see the houses there that people spent more than N15Million to build and they have been there for years. In fact under 3 years the value of my land has jumped so astronomically because when i bought it then, it was an up and coming choice area, now the place is a marvel to be in and if i didnt buy it then, i would be cursing myself for not taking advantage of the low cost then. A colleague who has a house there told me he faced this same problem few years ago and wondered what to do next. He told me i should not disturb my self about those Alausa people. After paying N5Million for the land, you now pay almost N1Million Naira or more for Governor's consent and almost a Million Naira for building plan , where will you get the money to build fence, contact an Architect and build your house?

He asked me How many lands in Lagos are free especially in Lekki/Ajah? What do Alausa define as free? Is a road, housing scheme, school etc they want to do there? Have they seen the thousands of Houses there springing up before they woke up to remember the land is to be used for constructing a bridge? How many people know about the master plan that Alausa so secretly hides from the public and when people want to buy it they say nothing but when they see people have bought it they now start harassing the owner of the land to pay ratification fee in future because they cannot demolish thousands of homes to render people homeless.


A neighbour who has been living there for close to 5 years now told me that i am wasting my time running from pillar to post sorting Alausa wahala pursuing one governors consent or the other or building plan approval. He told me to build what i want to build. That this same Alausa people are the ones who will even be waiting for you to build your house and when it gets to the roofing stage, they will come and mark your house 'X' and the only irritating thing is that they will continue to disturb you to give them a settling fee when ever council comes but you already have your house. In fact they are the same people that will still come and number your street, number your house with street identification, name the street after you, still disturb you for tenement rate and community or development levy and when the whole place is heavily populated with houses, the proposed bridge or road or what so ever thing they said in Alausa is being reserved for the governement will all of a sudden vanish and disappear. In fact i heard that to get building plan in ETI OSA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND IBEJU LEKKI is like squeezing Water out of Stone but life goes on. A Colleague living in Sangotedo also asked me these mind puzzling questions.

[b]1. 'HOW MANY HOUSES ARE IN LAGOS TODAY AND HOW MANY PEOPLE OR HOUSES HAVE THE C/O or GOVERNORS CONSENT'? '

2.WITH ALL THE MANSIONS IN LEKKI TO AJAH TO ETI OSA SPRINGING UP BEING OWNED BY THE SAME PEOPLE IN ALAUSA AND THE COMMUNITY CHIEVES AND OBAS AND 80% OF THESE LANDS BELONG TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THEIR CROONIES , ARE THEY GOING TO DEMOLISH THE WHOLE LEKKI AJAH BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CREATE A ROAD OR BRIDGE OR BECAUSE ITS UNDER GOVERNMENT ACQUISTION?     

3. COMMON LEKKI AJAH TOLL GATE ROAD EXPANSION, LCC IS SPENDING BILLIONS OF PRIVATE DOLLARS AND THEY HAVEN'T EVEN REACHED THE SECOND ROUND ABOUT AND THEY ARE ALREADY BROKE BEGGING PEOPLE TO PAY TOLL GATE FEES BECAUSE THEY CANT SUSTAIN THE COST, THEN IS IT THE SAME NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT THAT WILL SPEND FREE  BILLIONS TO BUILD ONE BRIDGE OR ROAD WHEN THAT MONEY IS TO BE SHARED AND SIPHONED INTO SOME POCKETS?

4. WHICH ONE SCARES ME THE MOST. BUYING A LAND THAT IS UNDER GOVERNMENT ACQUISITION OR BUYING A FAKE LAND FROM OMONILE WHERE ALL MY MONEY WOULD HAVE DISAPPEARED?[/b]

Its my first land and i want to desperately build for my self and my young family. Selling it is not an option now because it takes time to sell a land and to use the money to start all this Wahala again is not too good for a person's health. I have considered Relocation by talking to the Sellers whom i still have a close relationship with but they are telling me point blank that NO REFUND AND NO RELOCATION Except i want to go into the Bush where they have plenty lands and i was told that if i allow my land to wait any much longer without development within the next  2 to 3 months that the area Omoniles will sell it to a willing buyer who would kill to have my land and i would lose from all ends and that's where the real wahala with start with police and court and i will be the ultimate loser . I am a little bit confused. Please advise me and no silly comments. This is a serious issue affecting Thousands or i dare say Millions of Lagosians who have bought land in Lekki/Ajah but every body is Afraid to say that they are also affected.

Lawyer where are you o!  Can you also advise on the way forward?

Why everybody de yab Ajasa nah? HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

That guy is the most horrible Yoruba Rapper on this planet. He is so bush and local. He dresses like an Ondo Farmer and raps like an Ekiti Goat herder. I wonder where he gets all his agbero slangs from? I am sure they included him in the line up to appease the Dagrin Agbero/danfo community. The guys needs a serious make over big tyme! . . . lol

Joni Mitchell-Both sides