Business

Why we prefer govt land to ‘omo-onile’ —Estate developer

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2 years ago

Stories Dayio Ayeyemi

| Lagos

FREQUENT disturbances, disagreements and unending court injunctions resulting in delay of project, among others, have been adduced as some of the reasons most developers prefer buying into government’s scheme to land belonging to families or speculators popularly referred to as ‘omo-onile’.

Speaking with journalists on why he partnered the Lagos State government for the development of housing estates, the Managing Director, Legrande Property Development Company Limited, Jide Durojaiye, said his experiences with ‘omo-onile’ had not been palatable, hence his preference for government’s scheme.

His advice becomes handy to would-be investors or developers of real estate on the need to carry out the necessary information about land before parting with money.

Narrating his harrowing experiences with Omo-onile, Durojaye, who is the developer of 400 hectares Alexandra Court, Costal City, Ibeju Lekki, said his first project, which was Mende Villa, was a bad experience as he had to buy the land thrice from different groups of omo-onile.

According to him, after paying about N300 million for the land and was about to commence construction work, somebody came with court injunction to stop the project.

“We met with the genuine people, but you can’t know all their families. So we met with them and we paid them. After paying, getting to the site after paying about N300 million, somebody just came with a court injunction and said they were the owner of the land.

“We looked through their documents, it was true they bought through the same people almost about 30 years ago and there was no way we could know easily,” he said.

Based on his discovery as of that time, he said once a land or property is sold to the second person, it is difficult to know since such transaction wasn’t registered anywhere.

He said: “We discovered that once a property is sold to the second person, it is difficult to know. That’s why the Lagos State government is working on its digital land registry to correct this.

“At the time we borrowed money to the time we agreed on term of settlement and just for the judge to say go ahead, it is successful, another person came forward and we have to pay him again.”

Due to this delay, Durojaiye said he was in court for 28 months, adding that the loan facility secured from bank was doubled.

“These are the reasons we don’t want land from omo-onile. We like dealing with the government.

“The other two that followed, we had to do a lot of due diligence. The project we were supposed to start in March did not start until December. That made people to lose confidence in the project. This is the reason we prefer dealing with government,” the Legrande boss said.

Speaking on the new project, the Alexandra Court, Costal City in Ibeju Lekki, (The new Lagos), the managing director said it was in partnership with the Lagos State government to provide quality and affordable dwelling units with top-grade infrastructural facilities in a comfortable, safe and conducive environment for the middle-income Nigerians.

The estate, which is a mixed development, is equiped with over 5,000 quality housing units of two and three bedroom flats, including semi-detached and fully-detached duplexes.

In order to enhance access to the housing units, Durojaiye urged would-be subscribers to take advantage of the company’s ‘Rent to Own’ initiative.

The ‘rent to own’ scheme, he said, would help to unlock potentials, add values, enhance urban renewal efforts and solve various challenges, thereby providing affordable housing for Lagosians.

He also called on government at all levels and Nigerians to key into the ‘rent to own’ scheme to address the accommodation problems and housing deficits in the country, saying the project, when completed with various basic amenities in place, would meet the needs and bridge infrastructural gap in the state.

Durojaiye also said the state government, with the Federal Mortgage Bank, had been partnering with private investors in the real estate sector, especially on the New Lagos city to utilise available resources, provide employment opportunities, increase Gross Domestic Product and create values in the lives of families in various communities.

He said the ‘rent to own’ initiative, which started in 2021, had been able to enhance the master plan, increase investments, provide affordable housing for high and middle class earners and create wealth, as he commended the state government for its efforts at digitalising the land acquisition procedures.

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