Delta govt to return unused acquired lands to owners

Delta State government has promised to return lands acquired and not used by it to the property owners.

The state’s Commissioner for Lands and Surveys, Mrs Kate Onianwa made this known at a meeting with Oghara Elders Council (OEC) and some owners of the acquired land which was used to build Oghara Teaching Hospital and its extension in Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state.

The situation, she said, was applicable in Agbor, Owa Alero and Ibusa communities where land was acquired but yet to be put into use.

“The state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa had given the directive that all unused acquired lands should be returned to the real owners as keeping the land was not profitable to neither the government or the communities.

“The decision will pay the land owners more than the acquisition and there was no political undertone in the decision to return lands to them,” the commissioner said.

Chairman of OEC, Chief Godwin Ikogho had expressed dissatisfaction over the delay by the government to return the affected land, stating that some owners would have completed their buildings before the present inflation in the country skyrocketed.

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