Kogi Assembly harps on resolving land disputes, illegal mining

The Chairman, House Committee on Land, housing, environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Abu Onoruoiza Jibril, disclosed this in Lokoja while fielding questions from Assembly correspondent shortly after his committee was inaugurated.

Hon. Jibril, who is the current lawmaker representing Ajaokuta State constituency pointed out that the Assembly will no longer condone any form of sharp practices involving land, housing and mining in Kogi.

“You may recall that on Thursday 37 of August, 2023, the speaker on the floor of the House during plenary sitting, announced the reconstitution of the new members of the Committee, on Land, Housing, Environment and Natural Resources.

“The Committee system is the engine component of the legislative process, when it is effective it operates as the functional machinery of the legislative institution for the purpose of demonstrating separation of powers overseeing the activities of the other arms of government on behalf of the people and procuring relevant information to facilitate the building of restructuring the statutory fabric of the State.

“This Committee is composed of Hon. members who are well abreast with the challenges of Land, Housing, Environment and Natural Resources in the State, therefore, the committee shall play its prominent role of properly reviewing, scrutinizing, monitoring and supervising the ministry and its agencies programs”.

“For now, land is delicate. We know exactly what it has caused in the Lokoja metropolis. We may all have heard where people hoard land, some sell a particular land for more than two or three persons. That would be behind us henceforth. The Assembly is one arm of Government, so we intend to work in synergy with the Executive and to ensure that all of this comes to a necessary end.

On the area of natural resources, the Kogi lawmaker pointed out that the people will be adequately protected from enemies who are illegally tapping the resources of the State.

Explaining further, Hon. Jibril said, “All this incessant exploration that is going on, mining and blasting in areas that do not go in accordance with environmental law will be stopped. Especially where I came from in Ajaokuta constituency, we have a lot of mining issues going on there.

“We will have them checked. On housing, we need to open land, so that we can build houses alongside civil servants having a house of their own. Political office holders need to enjoy while they are serving the people. Everybody should be taken along”

Hon. Jibril noted that he remains committed to serve the people of Ajaokuta State constituency and the entire people of Kogi State.

The highly elated Chairman who recently empowered his constituency with many items, including startup capital worth millions of naira noted that he will always remain focused in the legislative business of Kogi.

“We promised the people that we are going to do things differently. And the difference is simple. When we start our job as committee members, we intend to scrutinise what has been existing and in the course of it check for loopholes, cover them. Where there are anomalies, we will get them corrected”

Earlier, the Speaker of the House Rt. Hon. Aliyu Umar in his address charged ministries, parastatals and agencies of Government to be more proactive in their duties.

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