Real estate now Nigeria’s leading money laundering front – Patrick Doyle

Veteran Nollywood actor Patrick Doyle has raised concerns over the growing use of the real estate industry for money laundering in Nigeria.

Speaking in a recent interview on Echo Room with Quincy Jones, Doyle alleged that many properties in Abuja and the Lekki corridor remain unoccupied despite the country’s housing shortage, suggesting that they are being used to launder illicit funds.

“If you go to Abuja and many estates in the Lekki corridor, you will see plenty of houses completed and uninhabited. So, if it’s the prices that are too high, how come people are still building and they are not being occupied? That should tell you something,” he said.

Doyle described the situation as artificial, emphasizing that much of the money flowing into real estate is “illegal money finding expression in the construction industry.”

“It beats my imagination how we have so many uncompleted buildings in a place where there is a shortage of housing for people. But there are a lot of empty estates. Go to Abuja, it’s crazy,” he added.

The actor also referenced reports of a single individual allegedly owning 7,000 apartments in one estate in Abuja, stressing that corrupt individuals prefer to invest stolen money in real estate rather than leave it in cash.