The practical land-verification recipe for Nigerians abroad: the exact documents to demand, government websites to check, professionals to verify, offices to contact, searches to run, and evidence to receive before you send money.
You are in London, Toronto, Houston, Dubai or somewhere else outside Nigeria.
Someone sends you pictures of land.
Maybe it is in Ibeju-Lekki.
Maybe Mowe.
Maybe Ibadan.
Maybe Abuja.
Maybe Enugu.
Maybe Benin City.
The seller says:
"Everything is genuine. The land has C of O."
Then they send you a PDF.
There is a government logo.
There is a survey plan.
There are signatures.
There are stamps.
And then comes the sentence that should make you slow down:
"Just pay something so we can secure it before another buyer takes it."
This is where many people make the wrong decision.
Because the question is not:
Does the document look genuine?
The question is:
Does the person selling this exact physical piece of land have the legal right to sell this exact physical piece of land to me?
Those are completely different questions.
This guide will show you how to answer the second one.
And importantly, you can control most of this process while living outside Nigeria.
There is no single website where you can enter a Nigerian land address and receive a national answer saying:
"Yes. This land belongs to Mr. X. Buy it."
Nigeria does not operate one central national land registry.
Under the Land Use Act, urban land is generally under the control and management of the Governor of the relevant state, while other land falls under the appropriate local government subject to the Act. That is one reason land administration systems are state-specific.
So:
Lagos has its system.
Ogun has its system.
Oyo has its system.
Kaduna has its system.
The FCT has AGIS.
Edo has EDOGIS.
Enugu has ENGIS.
And so on.
That means the first question after somebody offers you land should be:
"Which government authority controls the records for this particular land?"
Not:
"Who introduced the agent?"
Many Nigerian buyers hear "C of O" and immediately relax.
Do not.
A Certificate of Occupancy is important, but the Supreme Court has held that it is prima facie evidence of a right or interest and that the presumption can be challenged where somebody else proves a better pre-existing title.
In simple Nigerian English:
A C of O does not automatically cure a bad root of title.
Imagine somebody obtains documentation over land that already belonged to another person whose interest was never properly extinguished.
The beautiful certificate does not automatically make the earlier ownership problem disappear.
This is why proper verification investigates the history behind the document, not only the document itself.
This may be the most important rule in this entire guide.
If Agent A is selling you land, Agent A should not also:
That is not verification.
That is the seller controlling the entire information chain.
For a serious land purchase, BuildMyHouse recommends separating the process.
Your lawyer should work for you.
Your surveyor should work for you.
The government's records should speak for themselves.
The seller should provide information—not control its verification.
Think of it like an airport.
One person does not check your passport, fly the plane, control air traffic and inspect the aircraft.
Important systems use independent checks.
Your land transaction should too.
Before verification begins, tell the seller:
"I am interested, but my payment starts after independent due diligence."
Do not allow phrases like:
to override your process.
A registered real-estate company can still market land with title problems.
A famous agent can still make mistakes.
A family member can be wrong.
Verification should come before significant payment, not after.
Do not start with WhatsApp discussions.
Start by requesting documents.
Ask the seller to send clear colour copies of everything they claim supports their right to sell the land.
Your verification pack should normally include, where applicable:
Property documents
Seller documents
For an individual:
For a company:
For family or inherited land:
And ask for something many buyers forget:
Not:
"After the filling station, turn right and ask for Chief Emmanuel."
You need coordinates or a survey plan that allows an independent surveyor to identify the actual parcel.
Do not simply accept:
"My cousin knows one property lawyer."
Nigeria now provides better tools for checking legal practitioners.
The Nigerian Bar Association maintains its practising lists and a "Find a Lawyer" system. The NBA also has a digital practice-licence verification portal.
Before instructing a lawyer, ask for:
Then verify independently.
Use the official Nigerian Bar Association resources rather than screenshots sent by the lawyer.
Search the Nigerian Bar Association practising records
Verify an NBA digital practice licence
Tell your lawyer clearly:
"You are acting for me, the buyer. I want an independent title investigation, not merely a review of the documents the seller sent."
That distinction matters.
A beautifully drawn survey plan proves very little if nobody independently checks it.
Nigeria's Surveyors Council, SURCON, regulates registered surveyors and maintains a verification system for surveyors and enlisted surveying companies.
Use the SURCON verification system before hiring the surveyor.
Verify a registered surveyor or surveying company
SURCON's current published contact information includes:
10 Yawuri Street, off Jere Street, Garki II, Abuja Phone: 09 2902021 Email: info@surcon.gov.ng
Your instruction to the surveyor should not be:
"Please look at this survey."
It should be:
"Independently identify this parcel, check the coordinates, physically confirm the location and boundaries, and establish whether the survey information corresponds to the land being offered to me."
That is a much stronger assignment.
Go to the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Do not click a CAC certificate sent through WhatsApp and conclude that the company exists.
CAC has an official public search where you can search by entity name or RC number.
Search the CAC public company register
Check:
CAC also maintains a Persons with Significant Control register that can help identify beneficial ownership information.
Search CAC beneficial ownership records
If "ABC Properties Limited" is supposedly selling you the land but the title belongs to "XYZ Holdings Limited," stop.
There must be a documented legal chain explaining how ABC became entitled to sell XYZ's land.
This is where remote buyers are particularly vulnerable.
The survey document may be genuine.
The physical land you were shown may also exist.
But they might not describe the same parcel.
Your independent surveyor should physically locate the coordinates and verify things such as:
Ask the surveyor to send you:
For a serious transaction, a five-minute WhatsApp video saying "Sir, this is the land" is not a survey report.
Now move from seller documents to government records.
This is the heart of title verification.
You want the appropriate State Land Registry/GIS authority to answer questions such as:
The exact process depends on the state.
That is why we have created the state-by-state directory later in this guide.
A photocopy or PDF supplied by the seller is evidence of what the seller wants you to see.
A Certified True Copy comes from the authority holding the official record.
Where the land registry provides CTC services, request one.
Then compare:
Seller's copy
versus
Government-held copy.
Check:
Oyo State, for example, expressly describes its CTC as the official copy of a land document issued and stamped by its Ministry of Lands and says it confirms that the document exists in government records and corresponds with the archived original.
That is much stronger evidence than somebody saying:
"This is the original C of O, trust me."
Suppose Mr. A is selling to you.
Ask:
How did Mr. A get the land?
Maybe Mr. A bought from Mrs. B.
Then ask:
How did Mrs. B get it?
Perhaps Mrs. B bought from Family C.
Then:
What right did Family C have to transfer it?
This is the title chain.
Your lawyer should investigate the seller's root of title rather than only the newest document.
A title chain might resemble:
Government allocation → first allottee → Deed of Assignment → Governor's Consent → second owner → subsequent assignment → present seller
Or:
Customary/family ownership → family transfer → purchaser → regularisation/title documentation → later assignment
Every transaction has its own facts.
But the principle stays the same:
This is why stopping at the latest C of O can be dangerous.
Government title records are not the only possible source of trouble.
Ask your lawyer to investigate whether there is pending litigation affecting:
If the registered owner is dead and somebody says:
"I am his first son, so I can sell it,"
do not stop there.
Ask what legal authority permits that person to dispose of the deceased person's property.
Depending on the circumstances, documents such as Probate or Letters of Administration may become important.
Where those documents exist, verify them with the court/probate registry that issued them.
The Anambra State Judiciary operates an online Lis Pendens system that allows users to search property litigation status.
Check Anambra property litigation through the Judiciary Lis Pendens portal
For states without an equivalent public system, your lawyer may need to conduct the appropriate court-registry investigation.
This check is deliberately separate from the legal search.
Somebody may possess documents while somebody else physically controls the land.
Your independent representative should visit without depending solely on the seller's narration.
Look for:
Where reasonable, speak to neighbouring occupiers.
Ask:
"Who owns this land?"
"Has there ever been a dispute here?"
"Who normally comes here?"
"Has anybody else tried to sell this plot?"
Neighbourhood information is not legal proof of title.
But it is an excellent early-warning system.
If government records say one thing, the seller says another thing and the people physically surrounding the land tell a third story:
stop the transaction.
By this point you should have separate answers from:
Seller identity
Who is selling?
Legal chain
How did they obtain the interest?
Government registry
What do official records say?
Survey
Where exactly is the parcel?
Physical inspection
What actually exists on the ground?
Litigation/probate
Is somebody fighting over it or claiming through a deceased owner?
Your decision should not be based on one green light.
It should be based on the checks agreeing with one another.
Only after your lawyer is satisfied should you proceed to the proper transaction documents and perfection process applicable to that transaction.
Under the Land Use Act, alienation of a statutory right of occupancy is subject to Governor's consent, while customary rights have their own statutory approval requirements.
Your lawyer should advise on the specific transaction, including the necessary:
Do not treat payment as the end of verification.
The transfer itself should also be properly documented and perfected.
By the end of due diligence, a Nigerian abroad should ideally have a digital folder containing:
01 — Seller Identity and authority to sell.
02 — Property documents Every document supplied by the seller.
03 — Government search Official registry/search findings.
04 — Certified copies CTCs where available and useful.
05 — Survey Independent surveyor's report and coordinates.
06 — Site evidence Geotagged photographs/videos and parcel inspection evidence.
07 — Company verification CAC findings if the vendor is a company.
08 — Title-chain report Your lawyer's written explanation of the root of title.
09 — Litigation/inheritance checks Where relevant.
10 — Risk summary A simple conclusion from your lawyer:
GREEN — proceed AMBER — resolve specific issues first RED — do not buy
If your lawyer's final advice is only:
"Everything is okay sir."
ask for it in writing.
These services change, so always re-check the official government website before paying a fee or sending documents.
| State/territory | Where to start remotely | What you can currently do | Official contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lagos | Lagos State Land Administration Portal | Online property search by address/property number/parcel ID; GIS information; transaction history; CTC application | Lands Bureau, Blocks 13 & 14, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja. 08177775128; landsbureau@lagosstate.gov.ng. |
| FCT / Abuja | Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) | Property search, land-record verification and legal search | 08090154777 / 08050715299, info@agis.fcta.gov.ng. AGIS publishes a formal legal-search process. |
| Ogun | Ogun State OLARMS | Land Search, C of O, Governor's Consent, regularisation and other land services | GIS Building, Bureau of Land & Survey, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta. 0700 111 9999, olarms@ogunstate.gov.ng. |
| Oyo | Oyo State Ministry of Lands | Online Property Search covering ownership history, legal status, liens and encumbrances; CTC request | State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan. 0700 696 52637, lands@oyostate.gov.ng. |
| Kaduna | Kaduna Geographic Information Service | Online property/title verification, file-number/coordinate search, official legal search | 31 Ali Akilu Road, Unguwan Sarki, Kaduna. 09032102632 / 09058008251, customerservice@kadgis.org. Published Legal Search fee: ₦10,000 at time of writing. |
| Edo | EdoGIS | Map viewer/file search, title services, property registration; formal representative allowed | 102 Sapele Road, Benin City. 08136149787 / 08156611097, info@edogis.org. |
| Enugu | Enugu State Geographic Information System | Online land verification applications, search reports, land applications and ground-rent services | 4 Chismol Ukpaka, Ebeano Estate, Independence Layout, Enugu. 08060911273 / 09012527508. |
| Akwa Ibom | AkwaGIS | Property Search, Search Certificate, C of O and other land transactions online | Ministry of Lands & Water Resources, Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo. 08038365228 / 09127712178. |
| Kwara | Kwara Geographic Information Service | General property searches and title services; official property-search form currently states ₦10,000 processing charge | Commissioner's Lodge Way, GRA, Ilorin. 07066696401 / 07013563921. |
| Nasarawa | Nasarawa Geographic Information Service | State digital land administration, property registration, recertification, regularisation and cadastral verification | Jos Road, Lafia; service centre at Mararaba Gurku. 07032677637, customerservice@nagis.org. |
| Anambra | Anambra Ministry of Lands / ANAMGIS | Land-record services including Land Register Printout; ANAMGIS digital land administration | Use Ministry's official digital services and separately use the Judiciary's Lis Pendens system for property-litigation searches where relevant. |
This directory is deliberately not pretending that all 36 states currently offer identical digital services.
They do not.
For a state not listed above, go to that state's official government website, identify its:
Ministry/Bureau of Lands → Land Registry/GIS → Office of the Surveyor-General
and ask specifically for:
"The procedure for an official property/title search and Certified True Copy for a prospective purchaser."
Do not search Google for "land verification agent in [state]" and make that person your primary authority.
Suppose someone offers you a ₦35 million plot in Lagos.
You are sitting in London.
Here is the workflow.
Day 1
Ask the seller for:
Do not send a deposit.
Day 2
Independently verify and appoint:
They should not come from the seller.
Day 3
Surveyor visits the parcel.
You receive:
Day 4
Your lawyer initiates the Lagos Lands Bureau/property search.
The current Lagos Land Administration Portal supports online property searching and CTC applications.
Next
Request the appropriate CTC/registry records.
Compare the seller's title with the registry.
Investigate title history.
Search relevant litigation.
Verify the seller's identity.
Verify company information at CAC if applicable.
Check inheritance/probate if the owner is deceased.
Resolve every inconsistency.
Only then should your lawyer advise whether you can safely proceed.
That is land verification.
Not:
"My uncle went there and said the area is developing."
AGIS is one of Nigeria's strongest digitised land-information systems.
But its published legal-search process currently still requires the original title document to be presented for sighting together with valid identification. It publishes a search fee of ₦10,000 for private/individual files and ₦20,000 for commercial/organisation files, and states that results are usually ready within 24 hours or at the latest three days after a properly submitted application.
So if you are in Canada, you may still need your Nigerian lawyer/authorized representative and the seller to cooperate with the official process.
This is why anybody promising:
"I can verify every land in Nigeria 100% online in five minutes"
should immediately make you cautious.
The technology is improving.
But Nigeria is not there yet.
Send this:
"Thank you. I am interested in the land. Before any financial commitment, my independent lawyer and registered surveyor will conduct due diligence. Kindly provide the complete title documents, survey plan, seller's identification/authority to sell, title or file number, exact location and coordinates, and all documents forming the chain of ownership. My team will verify independently with the relevant government authorities."
A genuine seller may ask reasonable questions.
A dangerous seller often starts trying to negotiate your verification process.
Do not simply say:
"Help me verify this land."
Say:
"I want a written purchaser-side due-diligence report. Please independently investigate the seller's identity and authority, root and chain of title, official land-registry records, registered encumbrances, relevant consent/registration history, litigation where appropriate, probate or inheritance authority where relevant, and any inconsistency between the seller's documents and government records. I want unresolved risks identified before I pay."
That produces a very different quality of work.
Say:
"Do not rely solely on the seller's survey plan. Please physically identify the parcel independently, confirm its coordinates and boundaries, establish whether the survey information corresponds to the land being offered, check for obvious overlaps/encroachment and provide a dated written report with GPS/geotagged visual evidence."
Again:
you are commissioning a verification.
Not a courtesy visit.
Be extremely careful when somebody says:
1. "You don't need a lawyer."
2. "You don't need another surveyor; ours already did it."
3. "The C of O means there is nothing to verify."
4. "Pay first, then we'll give you the originals."
5. "You cannot contact the registered owner directly."
6. "The land belonged to our father, but we don't have Letters of Administration."
7. "The coordinates will be provided after payment."
8. "Government search takes too long; we know somebody inside."
9. "You have until tonight because another buyer is paying tomorrow."
Good property will still be good property after proper due diligence.
If a transaction only works when you do not investigate it, that is useful information.
There is still a major problem in this entire process.
Most ordinary Nigerians cannot look at a:
and know what information should match what.
BuildMyHouse is working on a Land Verification Checker designed to make that first layer of due diligence much easier.
The planned tool will help users upload available land documents and check for things such as:
Importantly:
A software tool should never pretend it can certify ownership simply by looking at a PDF.
Instead, the goal is to help ordinary buyers understand:
What do I have?
What is missing?
What does not match?
What should I verify next?
Which government authority should I go to?
And most importantly:
Should I pause before sending money?
The checker helps buyers identify missing or inconsistent land-document information and understand the next steps to take before committing funds.
If you are planning to buy land in Nigeria from abroad, use the waitlist form below on this page so we can notify you when the Land Verification Checker launches.
Do not buy Nigerian land because:
your brother saw it,
your friend recommended the agent,
the estate has a gate,
the seller has Instagram followers,
the company has CAC,
or somebody sent you a C of O.
Buy only after several independent systems point to the same conclusion.
The seller is real.
The seller has authority.
The title history makes sense.
Government records match.
The survey matches the physical land.
The property is not carrying an unresolved problem you have discovered.
Then—and only then—should money start moving.
Because the safest question when buying land from abroad is not:
"Who can I trust?"
It is:
"What independent evidence would still prove this transaction is safe even if I trusted nobody involved?"
That is the standard BuildMyHouse wants Nigerian property buyers to start using.
This guide is practical educational information, not legal advice for a specific property transaction. Land law, registry procedures and government fees differ by state and can change. Always confirm current requirements directly with the relevant government authority and obtain transaction-specific advice from a qualified Nigerian property lawyer before paying for land.