The Delta State government is going tough on ‘land bankers’ as it has threatened to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of individuals who failed to develop their lands within stipulated two years of receiving same.
The government has therefore issued a three-month ultimatum, starting from Monday, February15, 2021, saying owners of such lands would forfeit them to the state government, to be given to other persons who could develop them, or government would use such for other things that would benefit the general public.
The state Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, who disclosed this to newsmen in Asaba, Monday, said that the state government would no longer allow any individual to hinder any part of its 5-point agenda with particular reference to the “T” in the “SMART Agenda”, which means “Transformed Environment through Urban Renewal”.
Aniagwu said this was the decision taken by the state government on abandoned lands and landed properties by their owners.
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He said that the decision became imperative following an ongoing enumeration exercise on lands and landed properties carried out by the government where it was discovered that some persons have turned themselves to “land bankers”, awaiting it to be overvalued before selling it, thereby making profits to the detriment of the city and its dwellers.
One of the aspects of the five-point agenda in the SMART is the ‘T’, though the last in that agenda but by no means the least, which is Transformed Environment through Urban Renewal, he said.
“As part of our efforts to transform our urban centres, we commenced enumeration of lands and landed properties across the state and in the course of that exercise, we have discovered that there are individuals who have turned themselves into land bankers,” he said.
Aniagwu said government gave out those lands and C of Os and according to the rules, they were expected to have developed their land and property within two years.
“But we have discovered that these land bankers are hindering our ability to fast-track the process of development of our urban centres,” he said.
“And instead of developing the lands that was given to them either by way of privilege, they have decided to continue to speculate and then keep these lands such that even in the city centres, you will see a very thick bush,” he said, stressing that such lands have C of Os stretching over six years.
Handing out the Executive Order, Aniagwu said, “As a government, as from today, we are giving them only three months notice. Anybody who has been allocated a parcel of land by the government and has the C of O beyond two years and has not commenced the process of development on that land, three months from now the governor will take advantage of the extant law as provided for in section 5 of the Land Use Act.”
He said that the C of O of such lands would be revoked and the government would make the land available to other persons who could easily develop them “or government will even use that land for other things that will serve the general public”.
“We are not looking at faces and we will not look at faces to enforce these laws,” he said.
