Nigerian banks are corrupt, don’t invest in them, I lost N200m worth of shares – Pastor Ashimolowo

During a recent episode of the KK show, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, the Global President of the Kingsway International Christian Centre, cautioned Nigerians against investing in commercial banks in the country.

He expressed his distrust in Nigerian banks, warning that purchasing their shares would be a risky move leading to financial loss.

Instead, Ashimolowo recommended investing in real estate in Lagos state as a more profitable and secure option. He emphasized that investing in real estate guarantees significant returns on investment compared to buying shares.

Ashimolowo stressed that those who overlook investing in the real estate sector of Lagos now will regret it in the future. He reflected on the past when a plot of land in Lagos was sold for as low as N500 and N1000, contrasting it with the current value.

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.

Ashimolowo 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?”