The Managing Director, Omolamina Global Ventures Limited (OGL), Otunba Kamorudeen Lamina, has identified the activities of land owners popularly known as “Omonile” as the reason returns on investment is difficult to recoup in real estate business in Lagos State.
Otunba Kamorudeen Lamina said that their sharp practices coupled with the knack for compelling developers to pay twice for a piece of land has slowed down business.
This, he added, has caused huge setback, making properties much more expensive as they had to go extra mile to recoup moneys invested.
Speaking with the news crew of NAOSNP LENS, a Security News Magazine published by the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), in his office at Ikorodu, the real estate expert said that the major challenge of the business has remained the activities of the ‘Omonile’.
“We have huge challenge with the families we buy land form – Omonile. When we buy land from a family; after one year or so, another group from the same family with the same name would appear and confront you to demand extra money.
“They always deny that they were not part of the money earlier paid for the land and would request for another payment or disturb the construction work. To avoid igniting trouble or obstruct business, we pay another money. This is really affecting our businesses as we often pay twice for the same plot of land,” he further explained.
On measures they have taken or would take to ensure Omonile don’t compel them to pay a second time, Lamina stressed that he has solicited government intervention, adding that they are facing serious problems at Lekki and Ikorodu axis.
“We wrote to Lagos State Government attaching our documents. Some have been invited to the land grabber’s office for questioning. Most times, after such invitation, the families do petition us to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) with phantom allegations that have no bearing with land.
“We have always honoured such invitation from the police, and after our explanation(s), the police would discover the inherent lies painted by the land owners. We salute the police for their proactiveness and depth of investigation each time we had such incident.”
Asked how he has been able to deal with emerging security threats and convince his customers that their investment is safe, Otunba Kamorudeen, whose business cuts across some major cities in Rivers, Ogun, Lagos and Abuja, reiterated that in all their estates, they provide robust security with good perimeter fencing.
To complement that, “we have mobile policemen deployed to our estate and we ensure that every resident has a gate pass without which such person can’t have access into our facilities.
Otunba Kamorudeen, who was elated with the enormity of work done for them by the police, thanked the Inspector General of Police for his assistance that has helped developers to deal with some of these challenges, adding that they have always had effective cordial relationship with the police anytime they complained to them.