A non-profit organisation, Nigerian American Public Affairs Committee, NAPAC, in partnership with Efizzi Communications, has expressed commitment to bridging the gap between Africa’s booming real estate market and diaspora Africans, particularly Nigerians, eager to build wealth.
Both organisations said this at the first African Real Estate Expo, AFREEXPO 2025 held in Marriott Washingtonian waterfront hotel in Gaithersburg Maryland on Memorial Day, May 26th 2025.
Speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer of Efizzi Communications, Mr Collins Akpapunam, said real estate, according to Early numbers from the ongoing Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and Consumer Price Index, CPI, has displaced oil and gas as Nigeria’s third largest sector behind crop production and trade which were now Nigeria’s biggest and second biggest sectors respectively.
He said: “There are over 20 million Nigerians in diaspora, with the US having the highest number of migrants and remitting in 2024, $20.93 billion, representing an 8.9 per cent increase from the previous year. This suggests a huge influx of foreign exchange into the country, with surveys showing a significant part of it invested in real estate.”
President of NAPAC, Prince Maduka Nkuku, in his remarks, said the event “raises the importance of Nigerians in the diaspora to own homes in the country as well. Therefore, creating a system that makes it easier for them to do so triggers a win-win situation of convenient homeownership for them in a thriving real estate ecosystem.”
Collins also said creating a structure that supports homeownership through effective utilisation of remittances for homeownership would support economic growth significantly by providing employment and expanding strong ties that will bind Nigerian migrants to their home country.
Also speaking, CEO Prestigious Homes, Aare Akintola Oladejo, allayed fears diasporans had about real estate investment, saying there was a need for due diligence before investing.
While acknowledging that though fraud existed like anywhere in the world, he called for things to be properly done by investigating any company before taking a decision.
