The United Kingdom government has declared more than 170 properties and assets belonging to deceased African migrants as bona vacantia — ownerless goods. These estates, ranging from houses and land to savings accounts, are now on the verge of being permanently seized by the Crown. Nigerians make up a significant portion of these cases, with at least 58 identified estates among more than 5,800 unclaimed properties currently recorded.
These are not just numbers on a list. They are the legacies of men and women who laboured, sacrificed and built wealth in foreign lands, only for their life’s work to be swallowed by silence and neglect.
Names such as Adenike Adebiyi of Hackney, Arbel Aai’Lotta’Qua Abouarh of Chiswick, Michael Adeyemi, Olufunke Ajayi and Anthony Akintoye appear on the UK’s official records — individuals who died without wills, without next of kin stepping forward, and whose properties now stand at the mercy of the British Crown.
A Cultural Reluctance to Write Wills
The tragedy is compounded by a cultural reluctance to write wills and a failure to disclose investments to family members. Many Nigerians abroad die without leaving clear instructions, and their families back home remain completely unaware of the assets waiting to be claimed.
The result is devastating: properties, savings and investments vanish into government coffers, erasing the sweat and toil of entire lifetimes.
The example of Lugbe in Abuja illustrates the problem vividly. Two large properties were left unclaimed for years until squatters broke in and began living there, only to be later evicted. But Lugbe is just one small example compared to the millions of houses across Nigeria, Africa and the wider world that lie abandoned or undisclosed.
Some of these assets were acquired through honest sweat and sacrifice, while others were hidden away as a means of concealing wealth — investments, land or cash deposits in financial institutions that family members never knew existed. In both cases, the outcome is the same: properties wasting away, fortunes locked up, and governments waiting to seize them.
How Families Can Claim Estates
The bona vacantia list published by the UK Treasury Solicitor’s Office is updated regularly, and families who suspect they may have relatives who died in the UK are urged to check the records.
Claiming an estate requires extensive documentation to prove next of kin status, and the process is not simple. But if no claim is made within the stipulated time, the assets are lost forever.
The 170 African estates currently listed are only a fraction of what may exist worldwide. Billions of dollars in property, land and savings are scattered across continents, lying idle and unclaimed. This is a global crisis of estate planning, and it is swallowing the legacies of hardworking migrants every day.
A Wake-Up Call
The painful reality is that countless Nigerians who spent decades building wealth abroad are seeing their legacies vanish because of silence, secrecy and neglect. Families who should have inherited these properties are left in the dark, while governments move swiftly to claim them.
This is not just a warning — it is a wake-up call.
Estate planning is not optional. It is the only safeguard against losing everything. Nigerians at home and abroad must act decisively: write wills, disclose investments to trusted relatives, and keep proper documentation.
Without these steps, the risk of losing everything to government seizure is not just a possibility — it is already happening, and it will continue to happen until people take responsibility for their legacies.
For comments, reflections and further conversation:
Email: samuelagogo4one@yahoo.com
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