Lagos Farmer Cries Out As Rolad Properties Withholds N3.15m Return on Investment for Over 3 Months
What was supposed to be a lucrative investment deal for Lagos-based farmer AdPaul Nowo has now turned into a frustrating three-month battle to recover his money from Rolad Properties & Allied Services Ltd.
Nowo told Newsextra that his ordeal began after he heard a Bond FM radio advertisement promoting an investment package by the Lagos-based real estate firm. The offer sounded straightforward:
Invest ₦10 million
Get a 35% Return on Investment (RoI) after one year
The company retains 10% withholding tax on the RoI.
The farmer, who previously lived in Malaysia working on a plantation, had returned to Nigeria to focus on farming due to health issues affecting his lungs. With limited physical strength to farm on a large scale, the RoI was more than extra income it was a crucial financial lifeline.
A History of Deals with Rolad Properties
This was not Nowo’s first dealing with Rolad Properties. He had purchased multiple farmland plots from the company in 2023 and 2024:
December 2023: One acre of farmland for ₦1.8 million.
Another “top ground” plot for ₦1.8 million.
March 2024: A plot at Kobape, along the Abeokuta Sagamu Road, for ₦3.5 million.
“I trusted them because of my past land purchases,” Nowo explained. “They had been in business for years, so I believed my money was safe.”
The investment was facilitated by Olufunke Sowunmi, who introduced Nowo to Adewale Morakinyo, Rolad’s project manager.
A Dispute Over Dates and Endless Delays
The agreement indicated that the investment would run for 12 months April 2024 to April 2025. However, when Nowo requested his payment in April 2025, the company insisted the maturity date was later than agreed.
When he contacted Sowunmi, she asked if he wanted just the interest or both the interest and the principal. Nowo opted for the full payout, explaining that he urgently needed funds to commence construction on his Kobape farmland, where surrounding landowners had already begun projects.
Instead of payment, he was told the company’s Managing Director (MD) was not available to authorise the release of funds.
Frustrated, Nowo visited Rolad’s Lagos office on June 5, 2025, where he met Sowunmi and Morakinyo. They admitted to having “miscalculation problems” and pleaded for 20 working days to process his refund — a timeline that placed payment on or before July 4, 2025.
“I told him to calculate the days himself, and he agreed July 4 was the date,” Nowo said.
More Excuses and a Heated Exchange
A week before the promised date, Nowo sent a reminder. On July 3, Morakinyo called to say the refund had been approved but was delayed due to “banking issues,” requesting an additional three working days.
However, when the new deadline arrived, Morakinyo told Nowo he was “working from home” and could not facilitate the payment immediately.
“I asked if this was turning into a scam. He got offended and started insulting me,” Nowo recounted. “I’ve been asking for the MD’s phone number since April, but he refuses to give it, saying I didn’t pay into his personal account.”
Rolad’s Silence
Fij contacted Rolad Properties for their side of the story. A representative promised to connect us with the officer in charge of the transaction but failed to do so. At the time of filing this report, multiple calls to the company went unanswered.
(C) FIJ
