Land Grabbers: How To Avoid Issues With "Omo Oniles"

Most Omo Onile in Nigeria claim to be indigenous
residents of some communities and have put on
themselves the right to sell and collect a payment,
compensation, rents, and taxes from those they
pronounce as tenants, non-indigenes, or settlers. In
most cases, these Omoniles operates like land
grabbers, using force and all possible means to gain
access and control over lands. Over time, they sell
the same parcel of land to multiple buyers and
interfere on land acquired legitimately by others.
Sometimes, they make a difficult process for the land
buyers to claim their possession after purchase by
demanding illegal payments and threatening or
attacking construction workers at building sites,
posing threat to peace and security, and sometimes
leads to heavy loss by private investors.
So you do not face any issue with them, the
following steps should be considered.
Carry experts in the field along
By doing this, you can be sure of the fact that they
can help carry out the necessary check on the
property. They will be with you during the agreement
signing and from the beginning till the end of the
transaction to help you figure out every issue.
Carry along with you a Surveyor and a Lawyer in
order to avoid risk and wastage in your investment.
Confirm the real owner
There are situations where you’ll hear people tell you
they paid to the wrong family or the wrong owner,
this leads to having two owners for one parcel of
land. Take your time to verify who owns the property
to avoid issues in the nearest future.
To be on a safe side, we advise that you also carry
along with the community representatives more,
especially the Baale, who is the head of the
community. It is important that you involve them in
signing the deeds of assignment to avoid paying to
the wrong owner too.
Register the survey of the property and be sure
of your allocation
Make sure nothing delay allocation once you’ve paid,
know where they are giving you and construct a
corner piece on the edges of the property to avoid
intruders into your property. Register the survey in
your name to avoid issues as soon as you’ve taken
possession and if possible apply for a C of O on the
property if not given.
Start your construction
Once you are in possession of your property, the first
step you should take is starting your construction
immediately, it doesn’t matter how little even if you
are starting with a little fence first. You should for no
reason leave your property for a long period without
doing anything as this may lead to resell of your
property to another person which may lead you to
relocate you to another site or in a worse situation,
losing your property forever.
By doing all of this, you are free from issues coming
from anybody claiming to be omoniles and all you
have to do is take your time and follow all these tips.

https://www.nairaland.com/5540068/land-grabbers-how-avoid-issues