STORIES By Jude Njoku

Mr Kunle Oyekola’s dream of having his own property at Okeira in the Badagry area of Lagos was almost hampered because he fell into the hands of the ubiquitous land owners popularly called Omoniles. He had paid for the land to a particular family only for another to surface, also laying claim to the ownership of the land. MrOyekola was forced to part with twice the amount he paid the former family in order to repossess the land. But his woes did not end there, Immediately he brought sand to the site, another group of young men arrived at the scheme demanding various sums of money for the youths, foundation and community development association (CDA). They made outrageous demands at every stage of construction, confiscating the tools of the workmen and threatening to stop further work at the site.

MrOyekola’s plight is synonymous with what many Lagosian residents and property developers go though in the hands of Omoniles on daily basis. The son of the soil or omonile syndrome has spread to virtually all parts of the country, making land acquisition not only cumbersome but very expensive.

Real estate developers who spoke to Vanguard Homes & Property and this threat to propert development, advised prospective land buyers to either go for government owned land or exercise a lot of restraint so as not to fall into wrong hands.

Arc Obehi Iyamabo whose firm, Amarch Consultants developed the Grace Court estate at Makoko Yaba enjoined developers to go for government land although they may be more expensive. “Due to the peculiar nature of land in Lagos and most parts of the country and the Omonile issue, the ideal land to get for development is government land. That is the one that has the best title but there are also private lands that have good enough titles. But there is always a chance that you could fall into wrong hands. You have to be very careful when you are buying private lands and make sure that the land is properly searched. Get a legal person to do a proper search; confirm from the government that the land is actually in the name of the document that is presented to you. Even now in Lagos, you have up to two or three originals certificates of occupancy ( C of O ) for the same property flying around. So, you have to be very circumspect when you are dealing with land matters. Sometimes when you identify that this is the owner of the land, you can complete your transaction and in the next day, another part of the family comes up that you have not taken care of their side. So, it is actually a very difficult terrain when it comes to land acquisition. That’s why I said the best type of land is government land but if you can’t get government land ( it will be more expensive than private lands because of the tidiness of the title), you should ensure you do your search properly” Arc Iyamabo advised.

Speaking on his company’s experiences, Arc Iyamabo said: “We have had a lot of encounters with the Omonile. They are men like us, what we try to do is to engage them and in the process to make them reason. There is really no point in trying to harass them all the time. Usually, they don’t want too much. I think they are an unnecessary evil because they have come to stay. It has become an institutionalised aspect of our industry but we try and manage the situation anytime we encounter them. They have never been able to stop our work completely in any of our sites”. Also speaking on the Omonile menace, the Managing Director Of UACN Development & Property Company (UPDC) Plc, Mr Hakeem Ogunniran advised buyers to ensure that they deal with the truly accredited members of the family they want to buy land from.

“If you are in real estate business, you should be prepared to deal with Omonile. You must ensure you do proper due diligence. There is a procedure for a valid family property. The law requires on the part of the family that there must be a family head and other members who must ensure that them right people in the family sign. If there are several factions for example, you don’t deal with only one faction, ensure you deal with all the factions. Get the truly accredited representatives of the Omonile to sign. Issues will always arise but you have to deal with them, its is part of real estate business,” Ogunniran said.