In Lagos, Nigeria, there is a tourism boom about to be unleashed following development efforts and economic growth that promises many opportunities to investors. The result of this is a rapidly expanding real estate sector offering unlimited opportunities to reap bountiful harvests from. Take for instance 5 years ago undeveloped land in the Lekki axis of Lagos Nigeria and Ikoyi areas sold for less than half its current market value with developed properties selling in some cases for less than one third of the current market price. This is indicative of a real estate boom and unlike the stock market boom of 2004 – 2008 the real estate boom is an investor’s haven. In 2009, and onwards there are many places to start your search for houses available for sale in Lagos Nigeria. Here is a compilation of a list of places to find houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria:

1. News papers and magazine publications – A number of newspapers run dedicated editions for advertising or informing the public about opportunities to buy and sell houses in Lagos Nigeria. The most recognized of these is the Guardian Newspaper which runs a Monday Edition dedicated to the real estate sector. Another well known publication for finding houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria is castles magazine. There is also Properties and Homes magazine among others. The draw back is that these publications can only be bought in Nigeria as they do not circulate globally hence people living abroad may not find this option convenient.

2. Recognized real estate companies and agencies – There are a lot of real estate companies in Nigeria but a few well known include Jide Taiwo and co, Ubosi Eleh and Co, Diya Fatimilehin and co, UAC Properties Limited and Unions Homes among others. Contacting any of these companies is search of houses for sale is another way to go about it. This option covers you although not completely from the activities of omooniles.

3. Enquiries on on-going projects – You could also make enquiries about on going projects such as construction of housing estates and other similar projects directly through the contractors who could refer you to the real estate agency or company handling the project or possibly the owner in order to meet with and negotiate a deal if possible. However not all housing projects have options for selling houses as some of them might actually be tenement projects in which case the owners are only interested in letting out.

Conclusion – Be warned that not all adverts or information made available on channels for sale of houses in Lagos are credible and reliable, you are advised to still carryout some investigation into the claims because some real estate fraudsters are on the prowl looking to defraud unsuspecting buyers of houses in Lagos Nigeria. Also possible for locating houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria is the option of word of mouth from people within your social network although this is hardly as reliable as the other earlier options.

In the late 1950s the British discovered oil in Nigeria. Since then petroleum production has become the biggest industry in Nigeria and a primary contributor to the country’s gross domestic product. The Nigerian oil industry has however been plagued by political and economic instability. Corrupt military regimes and environmental damage has had a negative impact upon Nigeria in general.

Offshore oil drilling has also started to increase and there is still a lot of potential for growth in this sector. Offshore oil drilling has a few advantages over onshore drilling such as fewer restrictions, fewer raids by local militants and less chance of sabotage. Oil exploration and production is almost completely a joint venture partnership between foreign oil companies and the Nigerian government. Local independent companies account for only a very small amount of petroleum production. Here are some of the foreign oil companies that are operating in Nigeria: Agip, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total.

Nigeria also has reserves of natural gas. Unfortunately, most of the natural gas that is uncovered during crude oil extraction is burned off. This may cost Nigeria millions of dollars each day in lost revenue. Most of the country’s petroleum reserves are located in the area known as the Niger Delta. This is the area that surrounds the Niger river where it forms a delta before entering the Gulf of Guinea. There are also offshore oil reserves that are slowly being extracted by oil rigs.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the general population of Nigeria shares in the wealth that is generated by oil exports. Sadly, this is not the case. In fact, the opposite is true. Due to widespread corruption in the government the vast oil wealth is shared between only the top 1% of Nigeria’s population. The other 99% of the population has not shared in the wealth created by Nigerian oil revenue. Protests by the general population over social and economic disrepair are usually answered with the use of excessive force by the Nigerian government and military.