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 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.
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.
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 got entangled in political intrigues as soon as Amosun left office, and Governor Abiodun took over the reins of power as governor of Ogun State.
Sources confided in The New Diplomat in Ogun State that both Abiodun and Amosun belonged to different political leanings in the contest for the governorship of Ogun.
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.
At that point, 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.
The source said it was Forowa who then told him that there was an issue on the land.
The source added that this made him take a step further, reaching out to the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, who didn’t respond to any of his messages.
He continued: “It was Forowa 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.”
Petition and 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 Heartbreaking Experiences
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:
Reporter: Good day, madam. I’m the reporter from The New Diplomat. Please, we want to know what has become of the PMB Estate and the fate of all those who paid for the land allocation?
Mrs Okulalu: Oh, journalist, I will speak to you tomorrow. I travelled and I just returned. Call me on Monday.
By the following Monday, the reporter placed several calls to Mrs Okulalu without reply. At some point, she blocked the reporter’s no.
Abiodun On the PMB Estate Saga
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.
“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.”
Conclusion…
To date, there has been no communication from the government regarding the status of the allocations—neither to the general public nor to the allottees.
This silence has created room for all kinds of speculation, including rumours of ongoing litigation over the land and allegations that the property has been reallocated to powerful individuals at the expense of the original allottees.
It is therefore imperative that the government urgently addresses all outstanding issues related to the land in order to restore transparency and build investor confidence in the state.
As the head of a listening and responsive government, it is the hope of the allottees that Governor Abiodun will personally intervene to ensure that their rights are not undermined, and that the state government fulfills its obligations under the allocation agreement by issuing the necessary documentation, providing the promised amenities and enabling the allottees to take full possession and begin development.
Many analysts and international civil society groups have called on the Ogun State Governor to resolve the international embarrassment to the state before it escalates out of control.
“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 Abiodun lay to rest this turbulent issue,” a UK-based president of a Nigerian diaspora organization added.
