In a special 2015 report titled “Secret Weapon: Nigeria’s Diaspora is a source of money, markets, skills and ideas”. published on its website, The Economist stated that the UN estimates up to “1.2m Nigerian-born people currently live abroad” – and that they sent back home about $21 billion in remittances in 2013 alone!
Those numbers are indicative of the spending potential of the country’s population in Diaspora.
And it goes without saying that a good number of them have interests in purchasing products and services back home.
However, for those of us who are Nigerians – whether living at home or abroad – we know that the poorly regulated nature of our markets and institutions often make it difficult to safely engage in purchase transactions when one is based abroad, or has been away for a long time.
One area in which the above concern becomes relevant is the Real Estate market.
Our culture is such that we believe no matter how far away from home you find work and income, it is always best to setup a place of your own back home, in Nigeria, that you can safely return and retire into. .
This is why most Nigerians in Diaspora at some point often find themselves thinking about how to purchase real estate in the country, for residential or business purposes.
Sadly however, history is rife with many true stories and cases of relatives, and close friends/partners of such Nigerians in Diaspora, who diverted monies sent to them for real Estate Investment on behalf of the owner based abroad, to their own purposes.
Stories have been told of people living abroad, sending money back home for years, believing – from photos of work progress being emailed to them – that their desired properties had been purchased.
But many such persons have later arrived to discover NOTHING on ground. It has all been faked, and those receiving the monies had used it to build their own properties.
If s/he is to succeed in his/her real estate investment dream therefore, I argue that the Nigerian in Diaspora MUST be willing to empower him/herself to competently venture into this area of endeavor.
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