By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

The Chief Executive Officer of Crestline Properties, Ambassador Samuel Somide, has disclosed that rigorous and professional property verification processes helped protect Nigerian investors from potential losses exceeding ₦800 million in land transactions in 2025.

Somide made the disclosure during an interview with journalists in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he highlighted the growing risks associated with land ownership in Nigeria.

According to him, land remains one of the most valuable but highly vulnerable investment assets in the country, with many investors losing money due to unclear ownership structures, government acquisition issues, fraudulent land sellers and unresolved family disputes.

He explained that such problems often emerge months or even years after payments have been made, resulting in prolonged legal battles and significant financial losses.

Somide said Nigeria Property Verification (NPV) played a crucial role in curbing these challenges in 2025 by ensuring that investors committed funds only to lands with verified ownership, clear government status and minimal risk exposure.

He noted that many victims of land fraud relied solely on receipts, visual inspections or verbal assurances, methods he described as unreliable and unsafe.

According to him, NPV operates on the principle that possession of documents alone does not amount to proof of ownership. He said the organisation’s verification process in 2025 focused on confirming ownership, checking government acquisition status, assessing disputes and risks, and matching land documents with physical sites and official records.

Through this multi-layered verification system, Somide said NPV was able to flag high-risk properties before payments were concluded, allowing clients to cancel, renegotiate or completely abandon transactions where the risks outweighed the benefits.

He revealed that internal reviews conducted at the end of 2025 showed that NPV’s interventions prevented potential investor losses of over ₦800 million. The avoided losses, he said, resulted from transactions halted after red flags were identified, deals renegotiated based on verification outcomes, and purchases abandoned entirely.

Somide added that accountability remains central to NPV’s operations, stressing that the organisation stands by the accuracy and integrity of its verification reports in an industry often plagued by weak responsibility structures.

He said this commitment has helped build investor confidence and positioned NPV as a trusted authority in Nigeria’s property verification space.

Looking ahead, Somide stressed that as land values continue to rise and property transactions become more complex, professional property verification will remain indispensable.

He reaffirmed NPV’s commitment to protecting investors, promoting transparency and reducing avoidable losses in Nigeria’s real estate sector, guided by its core principle: Verify First. Cry Never.

Nigeria Property Verification is a property due-diligence and risk assessment service focused on helping individuals and investors make safe and informed land purchase decisions across the country.