How to Verify a Nigerian Property Developer Before You Pay

Why this is the step that protects your money

Most money lost in Nigerian real estate is not lost to a bad market. It is lost to a developer who collected payment and did not deliver, or to land that was never clean to begin with. Verification is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy, and it costs a few weeks and a lawyer's fee against the price of a home. Here is how to verify a Nigerian developer before you pay a naira.

Confirm the company is real and registered

Start with the corporate identity. A legitimate developer is a company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Ask for the registered company name and RC number, then confirm it on the CAC public search. Check that the company the contract names is the same entity collecting your money, because a common trick is a polished brand name fronting a different, thinly capitalised company on the actual paperwork. Confirm directors, incorporation date, and that the company is not freshly registered weeks before your deal.

Verify the land title independently

Never accept a developer's word, or a photocopy, as proof of title. The land behind the project must have a verifiable root of title, and you confirm it at the state land registry, not with the seller. In Lagos, that is the Lands Bureau in Alausa and the state's electronic GIS portal, where you can search by property number or parcel ID and pull transaction history. In Abuja, land sits with the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), and a search is requested in writing to the Director of Lands Administration with the file number, certificate number, and plot details. A genuine Certificate of Occupancy or Governor's Consent will match the registry record. A fake one will not, and verifying the number is how you catch it.

Read the title type, not just the marketing

Developers advertise "C of O" the way they advertise a swimming pool. Read what the land actually carries. Is there a registered Certificate of Occupancy, an excision and gazette for what was once family land, or only a deed and a receipt? Land sold without genuine excision can be subject to later government acquisition. If the developer cannot show you the gazette number or the C of O details to verify, treat the project as unverified.

Inspect the delivery record, not the renderings

A developer's brochure shows what it wants to build. What matters is what it has actually finished. Ask for completed projects you can physically visit or have someone visit on your behalf. Look for handed-over estates with real residents, not just a show house on an empty site. Cross-check claimed completions against independent records rather than testimonials the developer selected. This is precisely the gap Bektu is built to close, by tracking developer delivery history so a buyer can see whether the company has a record of finishing what it sold before committing to an off-plan promise.

Check for litigation and community disputes

Land in dispute does not advertise itself. Have a lawyer check whether the parcel or the developer is subject to pending litigation, and ask locally whether there are unresolved community or family claims, the omonile risk that haunts Lagos peripheries in particular. A property with an active court case or a community demanding repeat payments is a property you do not own in any practical sense, regardless of the paperwork you hold.

Pressure-test the payment structure

How a developer asks to be paid tells you a great deal. Be wary of demands for large cash payments, payments into a personal rather than a corporate account, or pressure to pay quickly to "lock in" a price before you have completed verification. Legitimate developers accept payment into the registered company account, issue formal receipts, and give you a contract and payment schedule you can show a lawyer. Off-plan deals should tie payment milestones to construction stages, not to arbitrary deadlines.

Get every promise in writing

Verbal assurances about infrastructure, roads, titles to be perfected, or delivery dates are worth nothing in a dispute. The sale agreement should state the title status, the developer's obligations, the delivery timeline, what happens on default, and how Governor's Consent on your transaction will be handled and paid for. Have a Nigerian property lawyer who represents you, not the developer, review it before you sign.

A short pre-payment checklist

Before any money moves, you should have: the CAC registration confirmed, the title verified at the state registry, the title type understood and documented, at least one completed project independently confirmed, a clean litigation and community-claim check, payment going to the corporate account against a milestone schedule, and a lawyer-reviewed contract. If you cannot complete that list, you are not ready to pay.

Verification feels slow when you are excited about a property. It is far slower, and far more expensive, to unwind a purchase that was never clean. Do the work first.