Step-by-Step Guide to Buying Your First Plot of Land in Nigeria

Buying your first plot of land in Nigeria can feel like walking into a system built for people who already know how it works. The terminology is unfamiliar, the process varies by state, and the stakes — often a life’s worth of savings — leave very little room for a mistake you didn’t know you were making. That gap between “wanting to buy” and “knowing exactly how” is where most first-time buyers lose money, not through carelessness, but through simply not knowing what step comes next.

This guide walks through the entire process in order, from the first decision you need to make to the moment you hold a registered title in your name. It’s written for someone doing this for the first time, whether you’re buying from within Nigeria or from abroad.

Step 1: Define Your Goal Before You Look at a Single Plot

Before contacting any seller or developer, get clear on what you’re actually buying for. Land bought to build a home in the next two years has different priorities than land bought purely as a long-term investment to hold and resell. A homestead buyer should weight proximity to work, schools, and existing infrastructure heavily. An investment-focused buyer should weight growth trajectory and entry price more heavily than immediate convenience, since the whole thesis depends on the corridor developing over time rather than being fully built out already.

Set a realistic total budget that includes more than just the land price. Survey fees, legal fees, registration and consent costs, and development charges can add a meaningful percentage on top of the advertised price — treat the sticker price as the starting point of your budget, not the whole of it.

Step 2: Research the Location, Not Just the Price

The single biggest mistake first-time buyers make is choosing a location based on price alone, without understanding why that price is what it is. A plot priced well below the surrounding market rate is sometimes a genuine opportunity in an early-stage growth corridor — and sometimes a sign of a title problem, a government acquisition issue, or a location with structural drawbacks (flooding risk, poor access roads, no realistic path to infrastructure) that the price is quietly compensating for.

Look specifically at what’s actually driving growth in the area you’re considering: is there real institutional or commercial anchor activity (a university, a functioning market, an operating industrial zone), or is the area’s appeal based entirely on a planned road or project that hasn’t broken ground yet? Both can be legitimate investment theses, but they carry very different risk profiles, and you should know which one you’re buying into.

Step 3: Choose a Reputable Seller or Developer

Once you’ve identified a location, the seller matters as much as the plot itself. Confirm any company you’re considering is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (search.cac.gov.ng) and check whether they hold membership with the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (redan.com.ng). Ask directly how long they’ve operated in this specific location, and ask to see other completed or ongoing projects, not just the one you’re being sold.

If you’re buying from an individual rather than a company — common with family or “Omo Onile” land — proceed with significantly more caution. Ask directly whether the land is family-owned, and if so, whether every beneficiary with a claim to it has consented to the sale. A seller who can’t answer this clearly, or who seems irritated by the question, is telling you something important.

Step 4: Verify the Land Independently

This is the step that determines whether everything that follows is worth doing at all. Before paying any deposit, verify the title through the relevant state land registry — not by trusting the documents the seller hands you, but through an independent search conducted by your own lawyer. The process differs by state: Lagos runs through the Land Registry at Alausa, Ikeja; the FCT through the AGIS system; Oyo State through the State Land Bureau and Surveyor-General’s office.

Our full guide, How to Verify Land Before You Buy in Nigeria, covers this entire process state by state in detail, including the exact documents to request and the red flags that should make you stop and reconsider before proceeding.

Step 5: Hire an Independent Lawyer

Choose your own lawyer — never one recommended by the seller. This single decision does more to protect a first-time buyer than almost anything else in this list, because an independent lawyer’s only job in the transaction is protecting your interests, with no relationship to preserve with the seller. Your lawyer should conduct the registry search described above, review every document before you sign anything, and confirm the specific plot being sold matches what the survey plan and title documents actually describe.

For the full legal framework your lawyer will be working within — including the Land Use Act, the different title types, and how Governor’s Consent works — see our companion piece, The Complete Guide to Land Titling and Property Law in Nigeria.

Step 6: Insist on a Proper Sale Agreement

A verbal agreement, a WhatsApp confirmation, or a promise to “sort the paperwork later” is not a legal safeguard. A Sale Agreement — reviewed by your lawyer, signed by both parties, and specific to the exact plot in question — should exist before any money changes hands, not after. This document should specify the purchase price, payment schedule if applicable, the exact plot boundaries and size, and what happens if either party fails to meet their obligations.

Step 7: Pay Only Through Traceable Channels

Every payment, whether a deposit or a full purchase price, should go into the seller’s verified corporate bank account — never a personal account belonging to an agent, a director, or anyone described as a “trusted representative.” Insist on an official receipt for every single payment, and keep your own copies of all payment confirmations. This isn’t just prudent; in Nigeria, cash payment for real estate transactions carries genuine legal risk of its own, separate from fraud risk, which is worth understanding before you consider paying that way for any reason.

If a seller pressures you toward cash or a personal account, treat that as a serious red flag rather than a minor inconvenience — it removes exactly the paper trail that would let you recover funds through legal channels if something later goes wrong.

Step 8: Complete the Consent and Registration Process

Once the Sale Agreement is signed and payment has been made through proper channels, your lawyer should proceed with the formal registration process specific to your state, including applying for Governor’s Consent where the transaction involves an existing Certificate of Occupancy. This step is frequently skipped or delayed in informal transactions, which leaves buyers in a legally uncertain position that can resurface years later, often at the worst possible moment — when trying to sell, secure a mortgage, or resolve an inheritance matter.

Step 9: Obtain and Safeguard Your Documentation

Once the transaction is complete, you should hold a full set of documents: the Deed of Assignment, evidence of Governor’s Consent, a registered Survey Plan, and either a Certificate of Occupancy or clear evidence of the underlying right of occupancy being properly transferred to you. Keep both physical and digital copies of everything, stored somewhere secure and known to at least one other trusted person or your lawyer — a detail that matters more than most first-time buyers appreciate until they need it.

The Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make Most Often

Pulling together the most common failure points across this entire process: paying a deposit before any independent verification has been done, because a plot “won’t wait” or a “special discount” expires that day; using a lawyer recommended by the seller instead of one chosen independently; accepting a verbal assurance in place of a written Sale Agreement; and treating land purchased from family or informal sellers as lower-risk simply because the transaction feels more personal than buying from a company. Every one of these mistakes is avoidable by simply following the sequence above in order, without skipping a step because it feels unnecessary in the moment.

Buying Your First Plot the Right Way

At DEVALOP, every plot we sell — including at our flagship Cedar Court Estate in Elenusonso — is structured to make this entire process straightforward rather than something a first-time buyer has to fight for. Registered titles, verifiable CAC and REDAN status, and documentation available for independent legal review before you commit to anything. Buying your first plot of land shouldn’t require you to become a legal expert overnight — it just requires following the right sequence, in order, without skipping the steps that feel like they can wait.