24 years ago, I was around 14 saved about ₦20,000 and was thinking on what to do with it. I had a close friend whose father was a prophet, She told me her Dad used to buy land in there area for people and Plots were selling for ₦10,000 each then and I wanted to buy two. But I needed an elderly person’s advice and someone to guide me through it. I had saved the money through a salesgirl job.
I explained to my elder brother then but my brother advised me to buy shares instead, saying it will be more profitable by the time I’d need it, it would’ve grown into a huge amount. So he discouraged me and took me to First momentum Bank (fcmb now Finbank). I bought shares worth ₦14,500. But, imagine this, when the certificates were issued, mine wasn’t there. The bank kept posting me, till I gave up.
After 16 years, my husband saw the document and said, ‘You have shares?’ I told him the story, and he took steps to follow up. After 4 years (making 20 years in total), I got a call to come and collect my payment that they’ve sold the shares to a company and wanted to settle us all. I was overjoyed that finally, my money was coming back! I was heavily pregnant at that time. Then they asked my husband to travel from Ilorin to Lagos .
They told us to bring all documents and write a letter, since I couldn’t come. We did as told. When my husband returned, he came back with a cheque of ₦22,000, I check and felt useless. After spending days,time and transport costs🙄. After deducting transport and other expenses, ₦18,000 was left. The 24 years old shares had fect me ₦3,500 interest😥. By the time I got it Land in that area was within ₦2 million per plot. It’s always a regret if I've gotten those 2 plots then , I’d have built a house or Maybe even be a millionaire by now.