KEY POINTS
- A new class of young Nigerian developers is building fortunes through property, shifting wealth creation away from oil and contracts.
- Developers such as Sujimoto’s Sijibomi Ogundele, Veritasi’s Adetola Nola, and LandWey’s Olawale Ayilara are transforming real estate into a fast-evolving, brand-driven industry.
- Rising urbanisation, diaspora capital and shifting consumer trust are fuelling Nigeria’s next generation of multimillionaires.
Across Nigeria, a fresh crop of young real estate entrepreneurs is reshaping how wealth is built and stored. Once dominated by oil, import licences and government patronage, the country’s newest fortunes are now being drafted on property deeds and development blueprints.
The housing deficit remains immense, yet demand in the middle and upper segments of the market continues to soar. For professionals, the diaspora, and legacy families anxious about inflation and currency swings, land and property have become a safe, tangible refuge for wealth.
What sets this new wave apart is its mindset. These are not traditional landlords but sharp, digitally fluent founders who talk of brand equity, customer segmentation and investment pipelines as confidently as they discuss floor plans.
Among them are Adetola Nola of Veritasi Homes, Sijibomi Ogundele of Sujimoto Construction, Olawale Ayilara of LandWey, Kennedy Okonkwo of Nedcomoaks, Richard Nyong of Lekki Gardens, and Adebola Sheidu of Brains and Hammers. Each has built an empire by blending savvy marketing with a keen grasp of market psychology.
The new dealmakers of Lagos
Lagos has become the nucleus of this transformation. At Veritasi Homes, Nola has positioned his brand around transparency and flexible payment structures for the middle class. The company’s growth has been powered by digital storytelling, from drone tours to webinars, offering property as a lifestyle rather than a transaction.
Meanwhile, Billionaires Africa reports that LandWey’s Ayilara built one of the city’s most recognisable housing brands before his thirtieth birthday. His gated estates along the Lekki–Epe corridor promise uniform design, managed infrastructure and community living, a stark contrast to the disorderly sprawl that defines much of Lagos.
Kennedy Okonkwo’s Nedcomoaks takes aim at the city’s mass-affluent segment; bankers, tech professionals and returnees priced out of Ikoyi but eager for structured, modern homes. The company’s Victoria Crest series has become a byword for upward mobility, producing consistent, repeatable projects that appeal to investors and families alike.
Luxury as a statement, scale as a science
In the high-end market, Sijibomi Ogundele’s Sujimoto stands as a symbol of ambition and aspiration. His luxury towers in Ikoyi and Banana Island redefine Lagos’ skyline, marketed with the polish of global real estate brands. The appeal is not just marble floors or skyline views, but the promise of power, security and prestige in a city where those things remain scarce.
Further north, Adebola Sheidu’s Brains and Hammers has taken a more industrial approach, delivering vast, planned estates across Abuja. The model is built on scale of hundreds of units, repeatable designs, reliable financing, bringing stability and affordability to the capital’s growing middle class.
Similarly, Richard Nyong’s Lekki Gardens popularised off-plan sales and payment instalments, transforming the idea of homeownership into a structured investment journey. After years of scrutiny and regulatory hurdles, the company’s renewed focus on compliance and delivery reflects the maturing of Nigeria’s private housing sector.
A shift beyond Lagos and Abuja
Emerging developers outside the traditional hubs are following suit. In the South-East, Emmanuel Udechukwu’s Roxbury Homes is targeting diaspora Nigerians and professionals seeking elegant but calm living environments in cities like Awka and Onitsha. In Abuja, Barka Umaru Mshelia’s Mshel Homes has quickly expanded into a multi-sector enterprise, blending architecture with lifestyle-driven design.
For these regional players, timing is everything. They are betting that improved infrastructure and growing local economies will soon unlock a new wave of demand.
The new face of wealth
Behind the drone shots and marketing campaigns lies a disciplined business model. Off-plan payments act as a form of low-cost financing for developers and affordable leverage for buyers. Each project becomes a mini financial ecosystem, linking construction, mortgages, and investor confidence.
But the sector is not without scars. Past failures from building collapses to project abandonments have made trust hard to win. This generation knows that reputation is its currency. Many now invest heavily in social responsibility and community engagement to maintain credibility in a sceptical market.
Nigeria’s property boom is no passing craze. With rapid urbanisation, a young population, and growing inflows of diaspora capital, real estate has become the country’s most accessible path to wealth creation.
The new generation of developers is betting that Nigeria’s next economic story will be written not in oilfields but in estates, towers and city skylines that reflect the ambitions of a restless, growing middle class.
Their message is clear: the new gold rush is above ground, poured in concrete, framed in steel, and sold one floor plan at a time.
