Land Speculation: The Secret Game of the Wealthy That Most Nigerians Overlook.

Land speculation, what if the best investment you ever made was one that you never built on?

Wealth more often than not for most people is shrouded in a layer of rather mystical secrecy & energy. Most people when they hear about the Dangotes, the Otedolas and Adelekes of this world, it seems to them as if they belong to another world, have 2 heads perhaps even possibly bleed gold if they are cut.

Growing up in a very remote village in Anambra state with parents who were farmers & barely made ends meet, I was one of these people that looked on the wealthy in this light, however a few years ago I came to a sudden realization that changed my life.

I realised that no, the insanely affluent weren’t created different or special, they are exactly like everyone else, sometimes with more human flaws and failures than even the very poor, the only difference they had was that they did things differently.

They think differently and as a result they act very differently. Everything that differentiates the very wealthy from those who are otherwise boils down to how they think and how they act. For example, the average poor man thinks in 6 months or at most 1 year periods, the average rich man thinks in 10 years, 20 years period.

The average poor man even when by a stroke of luck and chance gets a rare opportunity or great idea, he delays and delays till that idea or opportunity is lost while the average wealthy man executes ruthlessly on any great idea and is faster than a cheetah in seizing opportunities.

The average poor man is arrogant and despise small beginnings while the average rich man is always willing to take opportunities no matter how small and run with it and because he thinks in decades, understands the law of compounding and has long term vision, he is able to turn that small opportunity into a massive payday sometime in the future.

These realizations and understanding changed my life, totally changed my life. Now as I myself ascend different levels of wealth and personally meet and interact with different very affluent individuals, I have continued to study them and learn more things about them, one of which I will share in this article.

Land speculation a game of the wealthy that makes them even wealthier

How to Invest and Compound ₦1 Billion in Real Estate – A Must Read.

One of the things I have noticed about all the wealthy people I have met is that, without fail, they all engage in a very simple real estate investment called land speculation.

This is the part where you finally ask, Ugochukwu, what is land speculation? Land speculation is simply the act of buying undeveloped or underpriced land with the expectation that its value will increase significantly in the future, allowing you, the owner, to sell at a profit.

This is a very powerful wealth preservation and wealth building strategy that I have found in the toolbox of every wealthy individual I have ever met. Everyone of them without fail is heavily invested in land, the only variance I have noticed is the location in which they have these lands.

For some it is Ibeju-lekki, for some Ajah, others Lekki itself while the big players, the top dogs are either Victoria Island or Ikoyi and recently, Eko Atlantic.

Another thing I have learnt about the wealthy is that all their moves, especially financial moves are never random or made on a whim, it is always very strategic and calculated.

With that established the million dollar question now becomes, why are they all engaged in land speculation? What is it about land that got them all so hooked on it more than addicts are hooked on coke?

To properly answer this question I will need to bring the whole thing home, by home I mean Lagos and this brings to my mind a conversation I was having with one of our clients recently where I clearly told him that the real money in Lagos real estate is in the land.

If you want cash flow and all, you can go for apartments and houses but if you really want to play the long term wealth game, your only option and your only arena is land. I say this because Lagos is the smallest state in the whole of Nigeria by land mass, that’s land size and guess what, it is also the most populated state in the entire Nigeria with over 21 million current residents.
Let me repeat that again in case you missed it the first time, Lagos has the smallest land size out of all the states in Nigeria, same Lagos has the highest number of residents out of all the states in Nigeria.

Let me simplify it further, residents mean people currently living in a location and you know one thing about people? They engage in various commercial and residential activities that require buildings like residential houses, malls, shops, hospitals, resorts et cetera and guess where these buildings are built on?

Yes! You are correct, land.

So the smallest land size in Nigeria and the highest number of people, is it starting to make sense to you already or do I still need to keep going?

Alright, I will keep going but before that, let’s take a quick detour inside the classroom.

Am very much aware that you might have forgotten most of the things you were taught in your secondary school economics class but no doubt you must still remember the scarcity principle.

You don’t?

Alright let me refresh your memory, the scarcity principle states that, “When something is scarce or limited in supply, and people want it, its value and price tend to increase”

In simpler terms, the less there is of something, the more valuable it becomes. The more valuable it becomes the more you can charge for it if you have it and want to sell it or pay for it if you don’t have it but want to buy it.

So like I already said previously, Lagos has the highest number of people living and migrating to it daily out of all the states in Nigeria and same Lagos has the smallest size of lands available.

We just came out of class where we studied the scarcity principle so you already know that this unique situation means. It means that Lagos does not even have enough land to satisfy its exponentially growing population, remember what we said about the scarcity principle; the less there is of something, the more valuable it becomes.

This simple fact makes land speculation one of the most guaranteed ways to grow your wealth, whether you are a young multi-billionaire founder, tech bro or international money market trader looking for a way to secure and exponentially grow your ever increasing money pile or you are a retiring CEO looking to successfully preserve and pass down the wealth you have accumulated over the years to your children.

There is something I always tell my clients, as long as you have done your due diligence and confirmed that everything is in order, you can’t go wrong investing in land. You can’t go wrong with land speculation, it is impossible.

Any money you seed into land will return back to you manyfolds.

That is why all the wealthy men I know, no matter their industry, no matter their profession are all land speculators. Like I said earlier somewhere in this article, these are individuals that never do anything especially anything finance related on a whim.

This shows you the lucrativity and returns involved in land speculation.

For example when Orange Island, one of the more recent Island projects in the Lekki axis was launched, land was selling at just ₦88,000/sqm. A 650 sqm plot sold for just ₦57 million/ plot while a 1,000 sqm plot sold for just ₦88 million/plot.

Fast forward to now, as I am writing this in April of 2025, land is now selling for ₦538k/sqm. 650 sqm plots have gone from ₦57 million to ₦350 million while the 1,000sqm plots have gone from ₦88 million to ₦580 million.

All these happened in just a couple years.

Now calculate the return on investment for all the land speculators that bought at ₦88,000/sqm.

The funny thing about successful land investments like this is that when it is coming on, it is not hidden. It is never hidden but yet only few people, less than 1% of all the people that were shown the property, will end up buying it, and you wonder why 1% of any given human population is always richer than the other 99% combined.

What differentiates them? Few take action, others over analyze and overthink themselves out of life changing opportunities over and over and over again.

This is why there are 4 types of land speculators. Even among those playing in the game of land speculation, some are more successful than others. What makes some more successful than others?

To understand that, we need to study the type of land speculators we have. Like I said previously there are 4 types.

The Visionary land speculator

There is a Japanese proverb that says, “He who can see three days ahead will be rich for three thousand years.” Well, this properly explains the visionary. The visionary is the person that sees into the future, that sees what will be long before it becomes and buys land based on that future projection.

They usually buy ahead of infrastructure, political attention, or hype – often relying on masterplans, demographic trends, or inside info and they always hold the longest, usually between 5 to 10 years.

Visionary land speculators enjoy the highest ROI, but it takes balls because you need to stomach uncertainty and it also takes patience because you need to wait a long time for your property to appreciate.

Best example is Pst Matthew Ashimolowo.

The Flipper land speculator

This is the opposite of the visionary land speculator. The flipper buys projects pre-launch or early launch stages and exits within 6–24 months when prices go up after minor infrastructure or marketing hype.

They’re ROI-driven, constantly watching market signals for exit points and once one presents itself, they jump at it.

A typical example is someone that buys 6 plots in a new project at ₦200 million each for ₦1.2 billion and sells 4 plots 1 year later after some infrastructures have been done at ₦350 million each for ₦1.4 billion.

Walking away with ₦200 million in the short term while holding 2 extra plots “for free”.

The Developer Hybrid land speculator

This is a land speculator that buys large parcels of land in strategic locations, then: breaks them into smaller plots and resells at a markup (retail pricing) Or, begins developing houses, shops, gated mini-estates to boost land value.

This type of land speculator is in real estate full time.

The Herd Follower land speculator.

This is the final type of land speculator. They make the least returns because they buy when the price is already skyrocketing. Their mindset is “Everyone is rushing there, let me buy before I miss out!”

This mindset makes them react to the market instead of reading it so they buy after the hype has matured, often at the peak of price hikes or during a land rush.

A typical example is someone that was told about a property, or a location but instead of acting on the opportunity and securing that property he dismissed the opportunity till news about the investment got out and people in his circle started buying that property left, right and center and finally, because he sees everyone buying, he decided to go ahead and buy but at this point, the property price has increased much more than what it was when he was first told about the property so he is now making less ROI.

In land speculation, the person who makes the least ROI is the herd follower land speculator, this is the type of land speculator that I advise you never to be. To make the most returns in land speculation, you need to be both a visionary and a ruthless executor.

You see a great land opportunity, you don’t wait months & years analysing and consulting your ancestors, dead grandparents or whatever, you just do your due diligence and secure the property.

Delay is a losers game in land speculation.