NIGERIAN REAL ESTATE; WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A REALTOR

As a Realtors/Property Consultant, IT is crucial that we conduct ourselves in a most professional
manner. Our clients are entrusting us with their precious money if they
choose to engage our services. Our goal is NOT to focus our attention
on the commission we will receive from the property they buy. Rather,
it is to understand their needs and provide them with the best
information so that they can make an informed/educated decision. We
should always put their interest FIRST.


LAND CLASSIFICATION
Land can be classified as either free or acquired. A parcel of land is
considered free if the government has not indicated any interest
whatsoever in that land. Such land is safe to buy because the title on
the land can be perfected without issues. In most cases, such land
will either have a Gazette, a Certificate of Occupancy or a Governor’s
consent. Land that falls within areas that are designated as ‘urban
areas' are under government acquisition until deemed committed or
free.

There are two types of acquisition:
1. COMMITTED ACQUISITION
A parcel of land is said to be under committed acquisition when the
government has indicated an intention to use that land for a specific
purpose such as provision of amenities. Such land belongs to the
government and can never be available for use by individuals. If you
purchase land that is under committed acquisition, it will be
impossible for you to perfect your land title and you will only be
occupying the land until the government comes to kick you out.

2. GLOBAL (OR GENERAL) ACQUISITION
Lands that are under “general acquisition” or “global acquisition” can
later be confirmed ‘free’ or “committed” as the case may be. A land
under general acquisition can become free either Excision or
Ratification (Regularization).

‘Excision’ is a process whereby the government releases a portion of
an expanse of land that is not ‘committed.’ If a parcel of land that
was formerly under acquisition becomes excised, it is then considered
free and becomes gazetted. The gazette then becomes the title on the
land and such land is safe to buy because a proper title can be
processed on the land.

“Ratification” (or “Regularization”) is where the land owner pays for
the land to be approved or sanctioned by the government. The only
condition is that the land in question must not fall within a
committed area, and that the purpose for which the land was bought
does not disrupt the original plan of the State.

DEED OF ASSIGNMENTS
Most people have the title documents to their cars intact and in safe
places but fail to ask for the Deed of Assignment to their properties
which is several times more valuable than cars

A Deed of Assignment is one of the transactional document drawn up by
a Real Estate Attorney between the current title holder for a
particular property (the Assignor) and the new buyer. In Real Estate
transactions, a Deed of Assignment is a legal document that transfers
the interest of the owner to the person to whom it is assigned (the
Assignee). When ownership is transferred, the Deed of Assignment shows
the new legal owner of the property.

The Deed of Assignment contains very pertinent information for a Real
Estate transaction. It spells out the date when the ownership of the
property transfers from one owner to the other. It also gives a
specific description of the property that is included in the transfer
of ownership, as well as the traditional history.

It is very compulsory and mandatory for a Deed of Assignment document
to be recorded at the appropriate Land Registry to show legal evidence
as to the exchange of ownership in any land/landed property
transaction in order to make the general public and government aware
of such exchange or transaction. Any recorded Deed of Assignment at
the appropriate land registry will be authenticated in form of either
a Governor’s Consent or Registered Conveyance after it has been
stamped at the Stamp Duties office.

The following documents are usually involved when a Land purchase is made.

(1) The Deed of Assignment (2) The Contract of Sale (3) The Purchase Receipt
(4) The Survey Plan (5) Any other Title Document that may apply.

Each of these documents can come at separate times in the transaction
process. The seller signs all documents when the transaction is
complete and hands over the documents to the buyer.

SURVEY PLAN
A Survey Plan is a document that measures the boundary of a parcel of
land to give an accurate measurement and description of that land. The
people that handle survey issues are Surveyors and they are regulated
by the office of the Surveyor General. It must contain the following
information: (1) The name of the owner of the land surveyed (2) The
address or description of the land surveyed (3) The size of the land
surveyed (4) The drawn-out portion of the land survey and mapped out
on the survey plan document (5) The beacon numbers (6) The surveyor
who drew up the survey plan and the date it was drawn up (7)A stamp
showing the land is either free from Government acquisition or not

EXCISION
An Excision means basically taking a part from a whole and that part
that has been excised will be recorded and documented in the official
government Gazette of that State. In other words, not having an
excision means the land could be seized by the Government anytime
without compensation, even if it was bought “legitimately” from the
‘Baale’ or the original dwellers on the land.

GAZETTE
A Gazette is an Official record book where all special government
details pertaining to land are spelt out, detailed and recorded.

A gazette will show the communities or villages that have been granted
excision and the number of acres or hectares of land that the
government has given to them. It is within those excised acres or
hectares that the traditional family is entitled to sell its lands to
the public, and not anything outside those hectares of land given or
excised to them.

A Gazette is a very powerful instrument the community owns and can
replace a Certificate of Occupancy to grant Title to the villagers. A
community owning a gazette can only sell land to an individual within
those areas that have been excised to them. Also the community or
family head of that land has the right to sign your documents if you
purchase land within those excised acres or hectares. If the
government, for any reason, decides to revoke or acquire your land,
you will be entitled to compensation as long as it is within the
Excised land given to that community.

The best way to know whether a land is under acquisition or has an
excision that has been covered by a Gazette is to get a Surveyor to
chart the site and take it to the Surveyor General’s office to do a
land information and confirm whether it falls within the Gazette, and
spell out which particular location it can be found.

CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY
A Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued by the Lagos State
Government officially leased Lagos land to you, the applicant, for 99
yrs. All land belong to the Government. The first person on a virgin
land that has never been occupied and not under acquisition by the
Government is entitled to get a Certificate of Occupancy on that land.

GOVERNOR’S CONSENT
If a person with the C of O decides to sell his land to another
person, the buyer must obtain the Consent of the Governor before that
transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government. If the
new buyer now decides to sell the land again to a third owner, that
third owner must also obtain a new Consent of the Governor before that
transaction can be deemed legal in the eyes of the Government. This
process continues every time the property exchange hands. In other
words, the first person on a land is the only person or group of
persons entitled to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy. Every
subsequent buyer of that land must get a Governor’s consent. There
can only be one (1) Owner of the Certificate of Occupancy on that Land
and it will not be replicated for another person once the land has
been sold or transferred to another person.

The powers of the Governor to Consent to such transactions can be
found in Section 22. Of the *LAND USE ACT 1978* as amended. The
Governor of a State can delegate the power of Consent to any member of
his cabinet.

It is very important for a purchaser of land to perfect his or her
document by obtaining a Governors Consent so as to have complete rest
of mind. An advantage of having a Governor’s consent is that you can
transfer your land to another person without going to the community
touts (’Omo-oniles’) or ‘Family Baale’ to sign your Deed and Form 1c,
which are compulsory requirements needed before you can process
Governor’s Consent. Do you now see why Certificate of Occupancy is not
the ultimate?

Why you should invest in Lekki Real Estate

Lekki Free Trade Zone is a project approved by govt and it seats on 215 hectares of land (which is about 15 plots of land).

The free trade zone as the name implies is a zone that allows "free trade" provides incentives for international trade, like very reduces tax rates, easy international trade process, easy importation process and things like that.
 A hectare is about 15 plots of land.
 How this relates to us is where there is a free trade zone, businesses need storage space... Which means they need ware houses. Which means they need land to build warehouses.
 Currently this is unavailable in. Ibeju Lekki
 People also need accommodation in areas like the free trade zone. Currently ibeju Lekki doesn't have this...
 All in all, over 100 billion naira had been invested in the Free Trade Zone, so it is definitely a serious project.


Dangote Refinery
I'm pretty sure everyone must have heard one thing or another a out Dangotes refinery which is currently being built in Ibeju Lekki. A lot of people don't know how large the project is though. To give you an idea. The refinery will need 6000 staff working on it constantly when it is completed.
 Also, most people are unaware that the refinery will be completed in 2018.
 This is just one angle to look at the refinery from. If 6000 people will be working there and Ibeju Lekki is still very underdeveloped. It means there will be a large demand for accommodation there next year.


Deep Sea Port
Ibeju Lekki shares its boundary with the sea. And since the Fee Trade Zone is located here, it only make sense that there should be a sea port.
I'm sure most people know about the Apapa sea port. Well the Lekki Deep Sea Port is going to be the biggest in Nigeria. The project will done in phases. The first phase which will make the port operational will be completed in 2018

4th Mainland Bridge
Picture how Lagos is getting more and more congested... But with Lagos being a mega city, everyone keeps coming to Lagos. It's no wonder the govt has decided the find a way to link Ikorodu to Eti-Osa directly with a bridge... And guess where this bridge is to be located? Yep Ibeju- Lekki! So imagine once that bridge is completed... Can you picture people looking for new places to settle down. Will they go to VI or Ikoyi or Lekki Phase1? Your guess is a good as mine... Ibeju lekki will be the place to be.

New International Airport 
Of course there's an airport coming up as well.  There are plans for building this airport just 10km away from the LFTZ.
: These are just a few reasons why Ibeju Lekki is the ideal place for people to begin to buy plots of land.

Now is the time to buy, not when the projects are completed. It's the smart people that buy when the projects are still just starting.. They then sell and make a killing to people who waited for everything to be in place. *

The National Youth Service Corps Scheme and the future of the Nigerian Child

Every child has a right to education. Unfortunately, not every child enjoys this right. Political, economic or social instability in different parts of the world have deprived many children from attending school.

 Some children have been let down by authorities not honoring their commitments to education. In other instances, many children enroll in schools but fail to learn the basic skills they need due to the poor quality of education they receive. Some children are too hungry or incapable of  learning effectively and others drop out of school because of poverty or discrimination based on their gender, ethnicity, social class or health status.

It is vital to address this situation because education brings multiple and long-lasting benefits for children, families and whole communities.

The education of the Nigerian child can be realized if the aims of the most Nigeria’s 8 millennium development goals are met. The goals are:

1.       To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2.       To achieve universal primary education

3.       To promote gender equality and empower women.

4.       Reduce child mortality

5.       Improve maternal health

6.       Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

7.       Ensure environmental sustainability

8.       Develop a global partnership for development

Children are the future leaders of tomorrow. Educating the Nigerian Child helps to achieve the first three goals directly while indirectly achieves the rest. Education increases an individual’s lifetime earnings, helping to break the poverty cycle. Education of a child will help to eradicate poverty because when the child goes to school and graduates from University, he or she can use his tertiary educational qualification to get a good job and be useful to the society.

Primary and secondary education are basic formal educational levels required for anybody to be literate and function well in society. The education of female children will play a big role in empowering them when they grow up to become women in society thereby helping to achieve the third goals. In addition, education has important links with family health and nutrition. Investing in education is the best way to develop our nation because education gives people the skills they need to help themselves out of poverty and into prosperity. As a result, children’s education should be a priority. In terms of wider community benefits, higher levels of educational achievement have been linked to stronger democracies and increased peace and security.

There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a teacher to teach the child. Corp members have crucial roles to play in nation building especially relating the children’s education which also contributes to a significant part of their future.  In recent times, most corp members are posted to primary and secondary schools while a few are posted to universities and colleges. This I believe is a measure by the federal government to make up for shortage of skilled manpower in the educational sector. We all have the unique opportunity of contributing significantly in the educational development of children most especially the less privileged ones and those in the rural areas. Teachers are crucial stakeholders in Nation building. The development of any nation depends mainly on inputs made by her citizens. The quality of input depends to a large extent on the percentage of the population with a level of education adequate enough for rapid economic and social development. Because corp members are usually more than qualified to impart some knowledge to children and teenagers from the age range of 0 to at about 17 years of age (kindergarten to least senior secondary, they are indispensable in filling the gap of inadequate teachers or educators in the different schools. As a result we have the unique opportunity of impacting on children’s lives by contributing to and improving their education.

Many children who are being deprived of quality education because of their social status. Majority of these children are enrolled in public schools were educational facilities are either far-stretched or inadequate. The facilities in private schools cannot be easily compared with those in public schools because only children from rich or middle class families are able to afford these standards of education. Unfortunately these children happen to fall in the majority. Majority of Nigerian children come from low income families. This often places them at a disadvantage or restricts them from accessing quality education because most of them are enrolled in public schools. Most of these public schools (usually in the rural areas) either have many unqualified teaching staff or substandard or inadequate educational facilities. Only a few of the historical public schools have established good educational standard. In the rural areas where there are situations whereby it is imperative for the child to accompany other family members to the farm to make ends meet or fend for the family in other situation, they hawk items for sale when they are supposed to be in school. This is a form of child abuse which should be discouraged. If the rural community is confident that their children and wards will benefit by sending them to school, don’t you think they would encourage them to do so in lieu of dropping out to do other things?

Education is both a right and the bedrock of national development. 

In my opinion, Nigeria has the potential of becoming a great country. She shouldn't be content on past glories. As the giant of Africa, she must focus on investing on the education of future generations, if she is willing to actively contribute our own quota to make this gigantism a strength. Corp members and specifically good patriots have crucial roles to make this reality. Many corp members in the past have set commendable feats in the various communities they have served and as a result, some of them won state and national wards besides getting recognition from their respective communities. I believe this should be an incentive for us to follow their example and even strive to do better than they have accomplished. Corp members have conducted elections even in radical and unstable communities in Nigeria, solicited for funds from top government officials, provided healthcare in rural communities where affordable social amenities are either lacking or scarce, strived to teach less privileged student in communities where transportation is inadequate, inefficient and risky, etc. to name a few.

I would like to admonish all corp members serving in their different respective places of primary assignment most especially those in the secondary and primary schools to be zealous and diligent in their work because they have been placed in very important and key positions indispensable to national development, which will also make a lot of difference in the lives of potential future leaders of tomorrow. Inasmuch as the NYSC is the saving grace of educational infrastructural access in Nigeria, it would be better still to invest in more training of skilled teachers across the country to fill in in areas where educatiuon is inadequate or lacking. I believe we can also apply this courage in educating our younger generation so that posterity will be grateful to us for touching their lives through education.