ALL stakeholders, comprising home seekers, builders and developers have been urged to see land grabbers’ menace as a common enemy to the growth of real estate sector and efficient land resources’ management.
Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Lands Bureau, Mr. Bode Agoro, stated this during the stakeholders’ forum on latest activities of land grabbers with members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), community leaders, land surveyors and other key players in the sector.
The stakeholders’ forum was hinged on increased activities of land grabbers, who had been illegally selling government’s land to unsuspecting members of the public.
Some of the communities where land grabbers are most notorious in Lagos State at the moment are Okenla Village, Idake Village, Ajaooki Village, Ladegbole Village, Imedu Village, Iratirin Village, Obadimisi Village, Shekina Alo Village, Fowoseje Village, Iraboko Village, Adamatiye Community, Ogunro Community and Sorogun Community; all in Ibeju-Lekki as well as Ogombo Village Eti-Osa, and Oshiun Village in Kosofe, Lagos State.
Speaking to stakeholders at the forum, Agoro disclosed that the Bureau had stepped up efforts to address incidences of sales of government’s land to unsuspecting members of the public by land grabbers, otherwise known as Omonile.
He said the forum was part of the multifaceted approaches to sensitise members of the public on the increasing rate of such fraudulent transactions across the state.
The permanent secretary stated that the land grabbers (omoonile) had taken their game to a new level as they had the audacity to erect sign post bearing Lagos State Government’s logo and excision application file numbers in their desperate attempt to deceive prospective buyers into believing that sales of such lands were genuine transactions and had government backing.
“This engagement is therefore crucial at this material time as we cannot afford to fold our arms while some persons continue to take advantage of hardworking and responsible Lagosians by selling illegal lands to them,” he said
He pointed out that without addressing the omonile syndrome, government would have left a big monster, plaguing investment in real estate development in Lagos State to continue festering.
Chairman of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, Mr Bamidele Onalaja, said members of the association were fully committed to working with the Lagos State Government in the bid to confront the challenge posed by land grabbers’ activities in the state.
Also speaking , the coordinator of the Lagos State special Task force on Lands Grabbers, Mr Owolabi Arole, said that in order to drastically reduce incidences of land grabbing and encourage private developers, the Lagos State Properties Protection Law 2016 established a task force to enforce the provision of the law and vested in it power to arrest offenders.
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