Residents warned over miscreants disguising as registered land agents

The attention of  residents and the state government has been called to the idea of miscreants and street urchins generally known as Area Boys disguising as registered estate agents and  land dealers to dupe unsuspecting members of the public, among other nefarious activities they carry out.

The alarm was raised by two property consultants, Teriba Kazeem Adetunji and Chief Abiola Amure, who also gave the state government a piece of advice on the approach to be adopted if indeed it wished to successfully execute the newly-introduced law on land grabbing in the state.

The duo also urged members of the public to be wary and carry out detailed investigations before parting with their hard-earned money in their bid to buy land or houses.

Their advice came on the heels of numerous cases of dubious, and sometimes, bloody land dealings involving quacks and miscreants that have plagued many communities in the state over the years.

Further in his explanation, Adetunji said  even though certified and real estate agents were fully registered and recognised by both the state and Federal Governments, the state was replete with miscreants who could be regarded as quacks parading themselves as agents.

Meanwhile, while charging the state government on implementing the newly-introduced law, which outlaws the activities of land grabbers notoriously known as ‘Omo Onile,’ the property consultants stated that collaborating with professionals in estate agency would assist government in tackling the menace of land grabbing in the state.

Similarly, Chief Amure said miscreants on the sites always masquerade as people from the “federal,” and that after gaining grounds, they would invite all their colleagues from different parts of the state and start demanding exorbitant money from builders.

“Out of frustration, the builder would abandon the work and just move away. They are people of no fixed address, I see them as a social menace,” Amure said.

>  According to him, one of the ways the problem could be

> solved was for the government to decentralise the task force

> unit in every state to enhance accessibility.