In a market as opaque as Nigeria’s, the price on a commercial asset tells you very little on its own. What protects your money is what you confirm before the transaction closes. Due diligence is not a formality to rush through at the end. It is the work that decides whether you are buying an asset or a problem.
Start with title.
You need to know exactly what interest you are buying, who holds it, and whether it can be transferred cleanly to you.
In Nigeria this means examining the Certificate of Occupancy and confirming that the person selling has the right to sell.
It also means checking for any Governor’s Consent that a previous transfer required, because a gap in that chain can leave the title questionable for years.
Then look for encumbrances.
A property can carry debts, mortgages, court cases, or family claims that do not appear on the surface.
A proper search at the relevant land registry, alongside honest questions to the seller, brings these into the open before they become your burden.
The physical asset matters just as much as the paperwork. Visit the property, more than once if you can, and at different times of day.
Look at the structure, the services, the access, and the condition of anything you are inheriting.
What looks presentable in a photograph can hide real repair costs that eat into your returns.
If the asset is income producing, examine the tenancies. Who is in the building, what are they paying, how long are their leases, and how reliable have they been.
A property is only as strong as the income it actually collects, not the income it is advertised to produce.
Finally, understand the full cost of ownership, not just the purchase price. Statutory charges, management, service charge, and the cost of any work the asset needs should all be counted before you decide the deal makes sense.
None of this is glamorous, and it takes time that an eager seller may pressure you to skip. That pressure is precisely the reason to slow down. At Miyyatii Global, verifying what our clients are buying is not a step we tack on at the end. It runs through every acquisition we handle, because we intend to be accountable for the asset long after the deal closes.