IBEJU LEKKI SPONSORSHIP LAND SCAM: HOW TO AVIOD BEING A VICTIM
Land Survey Sponsorship in Lagos is one of the most popular investment schemes among land speculators due to the high returns based on the low amount of money to be invested and the high rewards expected, but it’s also the quickest way to lose your money and go bankrupt if you don’t understand the tricks used to engage in Land Survey sponsorship.
Numerous agents romanticize land sponsorship and are always on the lookout for investors interested in land Survey sponsorship. You often hear phrases like “Sponsor 500 hectares of land and receive 50 acres in your name.” Who would hear about such an opportunity and not want to invest immediately?
Behind these enticing phrases to lure people into Land Survey Sponsorship investment lies a dark secret: 80% of those who engage in it suffer badly and get their fingers burned, and due to shame or humiliation, they fail to let others know that they have ventured into something that requires tact, experience and honesty before they threw away their money unnecessarily due to a false promise of instant wealth through land survey sponsorship.
Here is how sponsorship for Land Surveys works using an Example of a Survey Plan Sponsored on Behalf of the Families in a Community by an Individual:
A community, village, or town with a large expanse of land would inform many people that they have a large number of undocumented lands that need to be documented by the government, but they would be unable to apply for the permits and documentation needed to help document these lands properly due to their poor economic situation.
As a result, they are appealing to well-intentioned Nigerians who can help sponsor the process of acquiring these documents in exchange for some free land as payment for their services, as they lack the immediate funds to pay the sponsors.
They enlist Agents to help spread this information virally and offer plots of land to these agents if they can secure a sponsor. Once a sponsor expresses interest, he is taken to the village to meet with village elders who explain their plight and what they need the sponsor to do for them.
Immediately, they inform the Sponsor that they own more than 100, 200, or 500 acres of land, but they need someone to sponsor the survey plan to map out the entire area comprising 100 acres of land; in exchange, they would give the Sponsor 100 acres of land (1 plot of land for every 6 plots surveyed by the sponsor).
Immediately, the Sponsor’s mind goes into overdrive and he performs mental calculations to determine how many free plots of land he would receive if he sponsored the land survey. If he keeps the land for five years and sells each plot for N1 million Naira, he will become an instant millionaire, and if the place opens up unexpectedly, he will be rubbing shoulders with Dangote as a billionaire.
Next, he inquires how much it would cost him to sponsor the area’s survey plan, to which they respond that it would cost between N20 million and N30 million. Now, he informs them that he is interested in sponsoring the village’s survey plan and that his surveyor will be arriving very soon to begin work. The family informs him that he may bring his own surveyor, but that he must collaborate with the family’s surveyor and village elders to ensure accuracy. The Sponsor has no problem with this and has his or his family’s attorney draft the survey sponsorship agreement, at which point everything is in order.
I am certain that, based on my explanation, it appears to be so simple and straightforward that you are wondering where I am referring to problems. Well, fasten your seatbelts, because I’m about to take you on a journey that is more than meets the eye. I will now introduce you to the marvellous world of Land Survey Sponsorship Scam.
As soon as the agreement is signed, the Sponsor will engage his surveyor to begin work based on the original N30Million agreed upon by all parties, but trust me, by the time the Sponsored Survey Process has reached nearly the halfway point, that N30Million is chump change. Sponsor barely scratches the surface.
First, you should have asked at the beginning of this article, “How did the villagers acquire 100 or 200 acres of land when no one had ever measured it before?” This 100-acre property is a hoax. The villagers are merely assuming nonsense in order to deceive the Sponsor.
The sponsor starts feeling confused and wondering how the Omooniles came up with 200 acres of land without first measuring it. The majority of the time, their legal land holdings do not exceed 40 to 60 acres. The majority of the time, they claim as their own the adjoining lands of other communities and villages. As soon as the surveyor steps into the other village’s boundary, the villagers of the neighbouring community would come out and stop your work.
Since you are in the middle of this community dispute, you will need to expend time, money, and other resources to resolve it. When you realize that your efforts are futile, you advise your Surveyor to change course and search for other non-contestable lands in the village. Your 100 acres have been reduced to 60 acres.
While surveying the land, the Surveyor discovers that there are numerous inhospitable areas, such as swamps, dangerous animals, and obstacles in the forest, which make it difficult for him to navigate. Due to the Surveyor’s safety, you would have to exclude these regions from your calculations. The sixty acres you had hoped to manage have been reduced to fifty. Still not bad.
Problem number 3 now arises. Now that your original N30 million budget has skyrocketed beyond your expectations, you are aggressive, irritated, and angry that you have been financially lied to, and you would like your Sponsorship agreement to be revised so that you can still receive a substantial portion of what was promised from the 50 acres. You are unaware of the impending main Kick in the teeth.
First, the fifty acres surveyed do not entirely belong to the Sponsor. The family will take 70% of the surveyed lands because it is family land. They did not invite the Sponsor to their village to sponsor their lands and then fled with all of their land. The Sponsor’s survey plan now details and specifies all of their property’s boundaries. It displays the optimal location for the Villagers’ lands. It provides them with a complete calculation of their total lands, allowing them to renegotiate differently with the Sponsor now that they have something physical and tangible to work with.
When you realize that these Omo-oniles and the Agent who introduced you to this Land Sponsorship are Wayo People looking to scam you out of your money, you will have reached this conclusion. Gone are the pitiful and beggarly relatives who were kissing your feet to help them sponsor the land survey plan. You would be introduced to the difficult, hardened, and troublesome family members who were quietly waiting in the wings until you completed your work for them. The 100 plots you were anticipating are about to be divided illogically.
When the family members obtain the survey plan you sponsored for them, you will realize that you were not the only person they engaged with and made agreements with to sponsor various types of documentation on these lands. The Sponsor would then learn that they have promised Chief Ababiakao the same 1 plot out of 6 plots if he helps them sponsor the Excision of the lands, and that Chief Ababiakao is currently sponsoring the gazette of these lands at the Lands Registry Alausa Ikeja based on the number of available plots of land on the Sponsor’s survey.
You would learn that the villagers have also promised the same 1 plot out of 6 plots to a certain Madam Olorioko if she can assist them in sand-filling the swampy areas of their village, and that she is using the same survey plan created by you, the Sponsor. The family members would also announce that, as a result of this survey plan that you sponsored, they now know how they will divide the majority of the lands that belong to the various families in the village and will select the best ones prior to allocating land to the various sponsors.
In the meantime, you were thinking, in the back of your mind, that once you sponsor the survey and have first-hand knowledge of the choice lands, especially along the express road or lagoon, you would be the first to choose, but the way things are shaping up, that swampy area you previously ignored is likely to be your best option.
Unexpectedly, the state government of Lagos is the final move. Once an area has been determined to be excised, the Lagos state government will visit the site, work with the survey plan of the village sponsored by you, do their own official survey plan, and take their own 40% of the land and label it as Government land, Land under acquisition, or Committed Land that belongs to the government alone. The remainder is owned by the community.
A sample Excision Survey Plan created by the Lagos State Government and signed by the Surveyor-General that depicts the areas that have been excised from the Community. After you have sponsored the Survey Plan, the Sly Surveyor who was hired to survey the area has gone to the family at night to negotiate a deal in which he is also entitled to some plots of land. After the Sponsorship kerfuffle, the family would continue to employ the Surveyor to partition the lands in secret.
This Sponsorship scam has transformed him from an employee into its greatest beneficiary. This is why so many Surveyors are competing for Sponsorship work. They are the final victor. Anyway, returning to “I have funded the village survey plan,” How many plots of land would be left for him after the Village has taken 70% of the 50 acres surveyed, the government has taken 40% of the 50 acres surveyed, Mr. Ababiakao has taken 1 plot out of 6 plots, Madam Olorioko is clearing or sand-filling the areas surveyed and Mr. Sly Surveyor surveyed the area?
If you are still left with 20 to 30 plots in an area that is not even desirable, please attend church and give thanks. From the 150 plots you had hoped to acquire after investing your first Naira, you are now left with crumbs. However, the worst is still to come.
Surveying an area is distinct from knowing what lies within the surveyed forest. In your anger, disappointment, and vexation that you have been duped and deceived, the Sponsor will now attempt to take possession of the land grudgingly given to him, and when he attempts to fence it, he will discover hidden signboards within the forest that read, “This land belongs to Alhaji Bakare. Purchasers beware! Trespassers will be prosecuted.”
Additionally, the sponsor may observe fences, demarcated boundaries, beacons, etc., indicating that this Land was purchased decades ago by someone else. The family relied solely on the Sponsor to determine which lands were valid or invalid. The surveyor may or may not have noticed these signposts or fences when he was drawing the boundaries, but he remained silent and feigned ignorance due to a deal he made with the family to receive free land. Now you are in serious trouble.
When you sponsor a land survey and spend millions of Naira only to discover that inside the bush, someone has already purchased a large portion of the land and fenced it, but you were unaware because the bushes hid it from you. However, the Omooniles are aware that it has already been sold to another party.
How did the promise and dream of 100 plots lead to all of these problems that nobody informed the Sponsor about? As the Sponsor returns to his family, conflict ensues. Police are called in, cases are brought to court, and at the end of the day, the Sponsor is forced to settle with a paltry amount of land given to him in a particularly undesirable area, which he must accept or he won’t see anything and he regrets having gotten involved in the first place.
This is what 75% of land sponsors experience, but they won’t tell you. Over the years, I’ve witnessed numerous dubious sponsorship deals and it never ceases to amaze me that people continue to fall for this ruse. Some of us who are familiar with the game comprehend the solution. Don’t become a victim of land sponsorship without knowing the tricks to surviving in this muddled industry and squander your life savings. Be wise
