By Abiola Olawale
Nigerians in the diaspora are often persuaded by the Nigerian government to invest back home in Nigeria, lured by promises of economic opportunities and a chance to contribute to the nation’s growth.
However, they continue to face formidable obstacles that undermine their efforts and erode trust in Nigeria’s public initiatives.
From bureaucratic red tape to outright unfulfilled commitments, these challenges have left many disillusioned.
A stark example is the ongoing crisis surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Estate, Abeokuta, Ogun State, where investors, including those from abroad, have been left stranded for nearly a decade due to unallocated land.
The late Chinua Achebe, Nigeria’s literary giant, wrote extensively about the systemic ills plaguing the nation’s governance, but even he could not have envisioned the scale of the land allocation debacle at PMB Estate, nine years after due payments were effected by Nigerians who dreamt of owning their homes at the PMB Estate.
The New Diplomat exclusively gathered that since 2016, Nigerians who paid as much as N28 million and N5 million, and those who were promised plots under former Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s administration (2011–2019), and now under the current administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun(2019-date) have yet to receive their land.
The PMB Estate Scheme: A Promise Betrayed or a Dream Evaporated under Political Intrigues?
Launched under Amosun’s administration (2011–2019), the PMB Estate scheme was touted as a transformative initiative to drive economic growth in Ogun State by providing land for residential, commercial, and industrial development.
The Ogun State government also made commitments to provide stable electricity, good roads, and various amenities as incentives for those purchasing land at the PMB Estate. To many, this was a very laudable initiative, and a giant step by the Amosun administration to fast track development, build trust of diasporans and international investors in the real estate sector as well as make Ogun State the choice destination for estate development.
The program attracted widespread interest, with Nigerians investing millions of naira to secure plots.
The New Diplomat gathered that payments varied amongst individuals, with some people paying between N28 million and N5 million, while select beneficiaries were also promised free land allocations to spur agricultural and industrial projects.
However, the project, which seemed to be progressing steadily at the time, suddenly got entangled in what some civil servants and bureaucrats called political intrigues as soon as Amosun left office, and Governor Abiodun took over the reins of power as governor of Ogun State. So what were the political undercurrents that appeared to have impacted the laudable project very negatively?
Sources confided in The New Diplomat in Ogun State that both Abiodun and Amosun belonged to two different political leanings in the contest for both the governorship of Ogun and the presidential elections.
While Abiodun was said to be supporting then-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for the presidency, the latter in turn backed his race for the governorship seat.
On the other hand, Amosun, a man greatly loved in the State for what some called his exemplary skills, threw his weight behind Adekunle. Akinlade, a former member of the House of Representatives.
According to many Civil servants in Ogun State, as soon as Abiodun won, he allegedly took steps to undermine Amosun’s projects, no matter how noble they were.
Thus, nearly a decade later, many of these investors in the PMB Estate are still waiting for their land titles or physical allocations.
A Canadian-based Nigerian, who didn’t want his name in print, told the New Diplomat that he paid N27,398,194.43 million in 2016 to the Ogun State Ministry of Housing.
He said he was allocated Plot F9, a section of the land, after his payment was acknowledged on August 5, 2016, and he was duly given land documents.
However, the source said the development of the land was stalled after he decided to build his structure on the allocated land.
He said: “I took a flight from Canada, excited to start building my structure. When I got to the PMB Estate site with my contractor, it was a ghost town—desolate, no roads, no infrastructure, nobody there. I stood on that empty land, shocked.
“So, we left and that was the situation until 2019 when we discovered a section of the PMB Estate had been carved out.
“We saw that work had begun on the land, so I called my contractor to go to the land and begin their work.
“To my surprise, they were stopped from working on the land by some security agencies who claimed I had no legal rights on the land.”
The source disclosed to The New Diplomat that he immediately took a series of actions aimed at claiming the land.
He said after years of waiting and facing hurdles, he felt compelled to assert his legal rights over the plot he had paid for.
Frustrated and determined, he started documenting all relevant communications and engaging with legal advisors to explore his options for a formal claim.
According to him, he spoke with a Director in the Ogun State Bureau of Heartbreaking and Survey, Mrs Adedoyin Okulalu, who in turn referred him to her boss, the Director-General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Segun Forowa.
Despite several calls and discussions, all efforts proved futile as none of the officials in the Bureau of Lands and Survey could provide answers or solutions to the land issue.
The source added that this made him take a step further, reaching out to the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, who then told him that there was an issue on the land.
According to the source, Talabi claimed that Amosun’s government failed to follow proper protocol in the allocation of the land.
He continued: “It was the Secretary to the Ogun State government who told me that there were issues with that land.
“According to him, Amosun didn’t follow the protocol, and Abiodun is trying to correct all the errors.
“He also told me to write a petition to the Governor so that the issue will be officially made known to him.”
The Petition Ignored: Governor Abiodun’s Silence
The source added that this made him file a petition in January 2025, nine years after he paid for the land in the PMB Estate, to Governor Abiodun.
A copy of the petition sighted by The New Diplomat revealed that the source outlined his plight for having to wait since 2016 for physical possession of his plot of land.
Part of the petition reads: “Over the years, I made several trips to Nigeria at great personal and financial cost to resolve this matter. Unfortunately, each visit was marked with confusion and conflicting information from ministry officials.
“In desperation, I reached out to the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi, through a mutual acquaintance. Although he promised to look into the issue, I never received any follow-up.
“We appeal to Your Excellency to facilitate the resolution of this matter, ensuring we can either develop the plot as originally intended or receive adequate compensation.
“We also appeal to Your Excellency to investigate the mismanagement and lack of accountability surrounding the PMB Estate project to prevent future occurrences.”
Other People’s Experiences: Heartbreaking tales…
The New Diplomat reports that several other people are caught in the web of the land issues surrounding the PMB Estate.
A UK-based Nigerian, Olaseni Koya, who shared his ordeal with the press, revealed that he paid N4.29 million in 2019 for a land lease but has yet to receive his plot.
Koya’s experience mirrors that of countless others who feel deceived by the state’s inaction.
“I was told by the former director general of the Bureau of Land that we paid during Amosun’s time, not Abiodun’s time. But we paid the Ogun State government, not an individual,” Koya stated.
Ogun State Officials’ Treachery, Silence…
Meanwhile, several attempts made by The New Diplomat to contact Mrs. Okulalu, the Director of Ogun State Bureau of Lands, to get her reaction to the PMB land crisis all proved futile.
The New Diplomat sent several text messages and placed several calls to the official telephone line of Mrs Okulalu, but were never answered. Suddenly, the New Diplomat got through to her one early morning, and the following conversation ensued between this reporter and Mrs Okuala:
Reporter: Good day, madam. I’m the reporter from The New Diplomat. I have been calling. Please, we want to know what has become of the PMB Estate and the fate of all those who paid for the land allocation, madam?
Mrs Okuala: Oh, journalist, I will speak to you tomorrow. I travelled and I just returned. Call me tomorrow morning when I am at the office.
By the following morning, the reporter placed several calls to Mrs Okuala without reply. At some point, she blocked the reporter’s no. Not deterred, the reporter called with two different telephone numbers. Still, all calls were unanswered.
The New Diplomat also reached out through official channels, including phone calls and emails, and also sought responses from other relevant government officials involved in land administration.
Despite persistent efforts, including follow-ups over several days, no replies or acknowledgment were received.
Abiodun On the PMB Estate Saga
Since taking office on May 29, 2019, Abiodun has given little information about the PMB Estate.
However, in December 2023, Abiodun disclosed that about 200 units of semi-detached, detached, fully detached duplexes and terraces are under construction at the Muhammadu Buhari Estate, Abeokuta, and are at advanced stages of completion.
The governor made this known while fielding questions from the newsmen after he inspected the construction at the estate, located along Kobape Road, Abeokuta.
“Today, we have almost 200 upcoming buildings. Since the last time that I came here, many of them have been sold; some have been paid in part, others have been paid in full. The reason I came here today is to see how we are doing and to see how I can reconcile the date of delivery with the level of progress on the project. I am impressed, but I think the contractors can work harder,” he stated then.
Abiodun also revealed that his administration encountered legal issues on the land.
He said: “But by the time we assumed office, the previous administration had refused to pay the contractors for the provision of infrastructure, and the contractors took the state government to court, and were about to get a judgment which was the forfeiture of this estate to the contractors.
“Because we did not have a handover note, we found out very late in the day, but our Attorney General’s office swung into action and got an out-of-court settlement with the contractors, after which we began installment payments and, of course, with due charges.
“While that was being structured, we began to think of how to develop this estate because we have prioritised it as one of the projects inherited where the commonwealth of the state had been invested and we must not allow it to waste.”
Conclusion…
Many analysts and international civil society groups have called on the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, to resolve the international embarrassment to the state before it escalates out of control.
According to them, the governor should realize that government policies are a continuous process and that the PMB estate Amosun initiated should be completed as planned to the joy of all those who paid funds over nine years ago for land Allocation.
“When some of our governors travel to the USA, Europe, or other jurisdictions and they face public humiliation from their State indigenes, it is on account of this sort of inappropriate conduct. Whether right or not, let him lay to rest this turbulent issue,” a UK-based president of a Nigerian diaspora organization added.
