- He said Nigerians banks are not trustworthy and shady as buying their shares will be a wrong investment move and a sure way to lose one’s hard-earned money.
The Global President of the Kingsway International Christian Centre, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo has warned Nigerians looking to invest in the country to stay away from commercial banks.
He said Nigerians banks are not trustworthy and shady as buying their shares will be a wrong investment move and a sure way to lose one’s hard-earned money.
Speaking during a recent episode of the KK show, the Ashimolowo advised that investing in real estate in Lagos state is a far better move that guarantees significant returns on investment than buying shares as a form of investment
He asserted that people who ignore investing in the real estate sector of Lagos now will regret it in 10 years time.
He recounted days when a plot of land in Lagos went for as low as N500 and N1000, contrasting it with what it’s sold for today.
He said, “Anybody who does not invest in Lagos now will regret in 10 years time, because some of us regretted not responding to LAGOS on time, I came to Lagos as a young pastor when a plot of land in Opebi was N500, and AllenAvenue was N1000 for a plot. Allen was a bush. Ikeja areas were bush.
Opebi was a bush. A plot of land in Isolo was N500.
“The same Opebi which I wouldn’t buy for N500 in 1979/80, and now went in 2004 and bought the plot for N10m, and built four flats and a small house at the back, and stayed there for a few years. I now sold the whole place for N120 or N150m in 2018, my own investment there was N55m.”
Ashimolowo also narrated how he lost about N200m buying shares in Nigerian banks when he could have invested the same amount in buying lands.
The clergyman said, “The Nigerian banks, I am here today, am 72, and can say what I like, if you take me to court, you are wasting your money because I intend to talk about investments, and why you should do real estate, and not all these buying shares in banks because I lost about N200m in Nigerian banks. N200m worth of shares and they didn’t sell it N30m; if I had used the money to buy land, I don’t even need to cut the grass. And I am not even talking about wonder banks, I am talking of the ones that are in existence today, and every time their shares go down, their MDs and founders go up, How come?
“I would mention banks, there’s nothing they can do. I bought for 36 million Naira First Bank at 36 Naira per share, it fell to 12 Naira. I lost that.
“I went and borrowed 60 million Naira in 2005 or 2006 from Sterling Bank to buy Skye Bank shares, it fell from 14 Naira to 2.50 Naira; washed away. Sterling Bank showed up in our office with 4 policemen to come and collect their money. I had to look for that money within 2-3 months.
“The same Skye Bank who loaned me money when we were building a house, showed up in our church. Their risk manager came with about 10 staff to our service.
I bought GTB for something like 18 Naira, GTB fell to 3.60 Nai ra…”
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