London, United Kingdom — 3 September 2026 The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Office of Diaspora Affairs, ESV. Dr. Jermaine Sanwo-Olu, will moderate a key session at the Nigeria Conversation on Trade & Investment 2026, organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society Nigeria in London. The event, which will take place at the Royal Over-Seas League, Park Place, St. James’s, London, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., will bring together business leaders, investors, policymakers, pr

Ask most people what Nigeria wants from its diaspora, and the answer comes back the same way every time: money. Remittances. Investment. Send more home. It is the wrong question, and it always has been. The relationship between Nigeria and its citizens abroad should be far broader than that. It should include accessible government services, credible investment opportunities, knowledge exchange, real support for returning citizens, and healthier approaches to family responsibi

I know you are tired. If you are reading this from somewhere far from home, the chances are you have carried more than most people around you will ever know. You have worked as a carer. You have stood on factory lines. You have cleaned offices after everyone else has gone home, guarded buildings through the night, driven when the roads were empty, delivered parcels in the cold. You have taken jobs you never imagined for yourself, because survival does not always ask for your

One of the most common mistakes I see among diaspora investors is not a legal error or a financial miscalculation. It is a mismatch between the property they bought and the goal they were actually trying to achieve. Someone wanting steady rental income buys raw land in a still-developing corridor and waits years for returns they never planned for. Someone wanting long-term appreciation buys a finished house at a premium price, effectively paying for convenience they did not n

What Diaspora Investors Should Know Before Appointing Someone to Act for Them Buying land in Lagos while living abroad can be challenging. You may be unable to attend inspections, collect documents, visit government offices or sign every document personally. As a result, many diaspora investors appoint relatives, friends or trusted representatives to act on their behalf. A properly drafted Power of Attorney can make this possible. However, it must be used carefully. Giving so

Have you ever considered that the world might be missing something because you are still waiting? Waiting for the perfect time. Waiting until you have enough money. Waiting for someone to believe in you. Waiting until you feel more qualified—or until you are no longer afraid. But what if the perfect time is simply the moment you decide to begin? One Question, Many Lives Across the world, people from different backgrounds are asking the same question. Young people in Lagos are

There are seasons in life when hope feels difficult to hold. You may have prayed, waited and searched for answers, yet nothing appears to be changing. You may have done everything you know to do and still find yourself facing the same disappointment, uncertainty or pain. Perhaps the situation concerns your health, family, finances, career or future. Perhaps you are carrying a burden that nobody else fully understands. I may not know exactly what you are going through today, b

There is a conversation I have had more times than I can count, usually starting the same way. A diaspora Nigerian tells me, with real pride, that their uncle or cousin "handled everything" for a recent land purchase. Sometimes that story ends well. Often enough, it does not. The instinct to lean entirely on family for a Lagos property transaction is understandable, even admirable in its own way. It reflects trust, cultural obligation, and a reasonable belief that blood ties

Understanding why title verification matters, which we covered in the previous episode, is only half the picture. The other half is knowing how to actually execute a land purchase when you are not physically present in Lagos, cannot easily attend a site visit on short notice, and are relying on a mix of phone calls, digital documents, and trusted intermediaries to complete a transaction that, in an ideal world, would happen in person. This episode lays out that process in pra

A Message of Hope to the Diaspora There is a side of the diaspora journey that many people never see. They see the new country, the photographs and the apparent opportunities. They do not always see the night shifts, loneliness, rejection, financial pressure and painful experience of starting again. Perhaps you have worked as a carer, cleaner, security officer, factory worker, driver or delivery worker. You may be doing a job you never imagined yourself doing simply to pay yo

If this series has a single most important episode, it is this one. Every other topic we cover, financing, corridors, property management, legacy planning, assumes one foundational thing has already been done correctly: that the title to the land you purchased is genuine, verified, and legally transferable. Skip this step, or perform it carelessly, and no amount of good planning elsewhere will protect your investment. Why title matters more in Lagos than almost anywhere you h

One of the most common mistakes I see among diaspora investors is not a legal error or a financial miscalculation. It is a mismatch between the property they bought and the goal they were actually trying to achieve. Someone wanting steady rental income buys raw land in a still-developing corridor and waits years for returns they never planned for. Someone wanting long-term appreciation buys a finished house at a premium price, effectively paying for convenience they did not n

Living in the diaspora can open the door to extraordinary opportunities, but it can also place people in situations they never imagined for themselves. You may have relocated with great expectations, only to discover that starting again is harder than it appears. Qualifications may not be recognised immediately. Professional experience may be overlooked. A promising career may be replaced, temporarily, by a job that simply pays the bills. Family members may celebrate your rel

There is a particular kind of phone call that estate surveyors in Lagos receive several times a week. It comes from London, from Houston, from Johannesburg, sometimes from as far as Auckland. The caller has done well abroad. They have a stable career, a mortgage on a home in their host country, perhaps children who have never set foot in Nigeria. And they want to know one thing: how do I buy land in Lagos without getting cheated. That question, asked in a hundred different wa

There are moments when life can make you feel as though your best days are already behind you. The money is not enough. The opportunity you expected did not come. The relationship failed. The business struggled. The plan you believed in did not work. You look around and see other people moving forward while you feel stuck in the same painful place. In moments like these, it is easy to believe that nothing will ever change. But your present condition is not necessarily your pe