Mixta Africa Infuses Work, Play in Lakowe Lakes Golf Estate

Bennett Oghifo

Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate occupies a prime location in the evolving Lagos New Town, a district of 15 million sqm of land starting from the prestigious Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country estate all the way down to Adiva Plainfields and Townsville. This district is developed by Mixta Africa. They own all estates currently within the district as well.

According to Mixta Africa, when fully developed, the district is expected to house over 200,000 residents. With solid infrastructure like good roads lasting decades, good drainage, green living, natural elements, serenity and an exclusive lifestyle not common in the city.

Lagos New Town is a solution to the over-populated Lagos State. The district is currently twice the size of Victoria Island and seeks to solve the problem of housing across varying class sectors in the state. 

Estates in Mixta Africa’s portfolio are Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate; Beechwood Park; Marula Park; and Adiva Plainfields.

Mixta Africa, according to the Sales Representative, Ben Chiedu, is under the ARM Group. “We are in partnership with ARM pension, investment, ARM trustee and so on. We have been in business for three decades and for real estate goals, we have operations in Nigeria and four African countries.

“In Lagos, we have several developments in other parts of town, like in Sangotedo, in Lakowe where we have a large land bank, it is so big, it is about two times the size of the entire Victoria Island. It’s about 1,562 hectares. That’s the amount of land we own here in Lakowe. So, Lakowe Lakes is the biggest estate that sits within the land bank. 

“Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate is about 308 hectares of land, and is one of the biggest estates in Lagos. We have three major activities that go on here. We have the biggest golf course in Lagos with 18 holes. We have real estate, meaning that people call this place their home. They work from here and their family is here and we have a hospitality business here. Sometimes, we have all kinds of organisations like oil and gas companies, banks, coming for seminars and conferences.”

Chiedu, who led Journalists on a tour of the estate, drew their attention to the environment, particularly the rich green layout. “Everywhere you see greens like this, represents the golf course. And in the estate right now, we have about 14 lakes. Some are  natural, others are man made. We actually did this to improve the experience of people who live here or who play golf or who come here to watch or for a retreat. And the golf course is spread all across. 

“The golf course already takes up 30 percent of the entire space. The general plan is that real estate will take up only 25 percent. We plan to retain as much greenery as possible, because the golf course alone sits on almost 100 hectares out of 308 hectares.”

“So, the estate is designed in such a way that no matter where you are in the estate, you have a view of the golf course. So, there are people who have lands in this estate, and from their houses, they can watch people who play golf. It’s so beautiful and there is no chance at all that the golf ball will enter your property because of the design of the golf course.”

He pointed out the real estate offerings within Lakowe Lake Golf Estate, saying “Here, we build communities. We have The Village, which has only 18 houses. There are four bedroom  bungalows, four bedroom duplexes. We have a community we are developing which is for elderly people, retirees basically. So, we have two and three bedroom apartments for sale. The name of the community is Ule Gardens. We have another community, which is the oldest community, called The Enclave.”

He said they have plots of land, and that they have sold 100 of the plots and still have a lot more, stating that “there is no other estate in Lagos that is like Lakowe Lake Estate in terms of size, in terms of the ambience, in terms of the natural environment we have created here.” 

He said there is 24-hour power supply in the estate, explaining that the power solution is in partnership with a third party organisation, adding that it is a hybrid of PHCN and generators. “But on our own, we have an arrangement currently, we are looking into transitioning to gas to be our source of power, and we believe that would help drive down the cost of power in our estate and even attract more people to this estate.”

He said there is “a very robust security architecture covering our entire land bank, which is more than just the estate. It covers this estate and the rest of our land around here. So first of all, we have guards on patrol. We have patrol vehicles that go around within all the estate and just generally within all of the undeveloped land. We have drones that we used to penetrate areas where we can’t physically get into, so with the drone, we can see what’s  happening there. We have security dogs For every street within this estate, they are released in the evenings of their man by trained professionals. And we have a lot of security guys and even armed policemen here. In addition, we have a very good relationship with the host community, the Lakowe community. Also our chief security officer is a retired assistant commissioner of police, he has a very strong connection with the police force. In fact, the Elemore police station is very close and we have a very good relationship with them, especially because we have a retired police officer as our Security head.”