As the menace land grabbing continues unabated in Lagos state, Honourable, Mudashiru Obasa State House of House of Assembly has concluded arrangements to hold a public Hearing on the matter .
The decision followed its debate on the floor of the House yesterday by lawmakers and the need to urgently checkmate this trend.
According to the assembly, the planned stakeholders’ meeting would be all-encompassing involving the state government, the police, the judiciary, traditional rulers and others.
Moving the motion under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’ at the floor of the House, Hon. Kazeem Olayinka representing Mushin Constituency 2, urged the House to organise a meeting with the stakeholders to address the problem.
On his part, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu representing Eti-Osa 2 called on the House to focus attention enforcement of the law against land grabbing as according to him it is very crucial.
The lawmaker suggested that an agency should be created to effectively handle matters arising from land grabbing.
Speaking on the matter , the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, pointed out that land grabbing is not only “a serious issue that is beyond disturbing. It is chaotic. Many people have been killed, some maimed and some locked up without trial just because of the existence of some people who have turned themselves to land grabbers.”
The speaker condemned situations where land speculators write petitions and with the connivance of security officials, while the authentic owners of the properties are arrested, taken to Abuja and forced to sign undertakings that would bar them from the same land they bought from their toiling.
He added that these land grabbers often attack new and developing areas in Ikorodu, Epe, Ojo and others.
According to him, “I wonder how somebody would just invade people’s properties and still exude such boldness and confidence, kill the owner or bring police.”
Obasa, who recalled his own experience some time ago, said, “what do you think of the fate of a resident who struggles to own a property, struggling to start building on it only for somebody to just suddenly take over the land making life difficult for him?”
He also raised the issue of delays and multiple judgements from courts, appealing the state government to consider commensurate compensations for land owners whose properties are taken over in overriding public interest.
“Land is a source of wealth for its owners and when the government acquires it, there must be a process in place for adequate compensation. If not, how do you expect such people to get out of poverty?” he queried.
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