Ibadan – Oyo State Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development and some communities in Olomi area of Ibadan have identified the exact locations of 242.65 hectares of land belonging to the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the four pillars covering the entire 242.65 hectares of the land were identified by the office of the Surveyor-General with the use of GPS during a visit to the land on Wednesday.
NAN reports that members of the affected communities, the Controller of NCoS, Oyo State Command, Sunday Ogundipe and representatives of other security agencies were present during the search.
It also reports that communities that have encroached on the land were Aba Epo; Oke-Elesin; Ajimosi; Ago; Oloke; Olunde, among others.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the exercise, Mr Mobolaji Musbau, said they had been able to show the communities the exact boundaries of the 242.65 hectares of land belonging to NCoS based on the 1980 gazette.
Musbau, from office of the Surveyor-General, said that the next line of action would be determined by the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General and Surveyor-General, in collaboration with NCoS.
“We came here to implement the resolution of the meeting held at the Ministry of Justice with the communities and NCoS and we have been able to do that,” he said.
Also, Mr Abiola Sarafadeen, representative of the Ministry of Land and Housing, commended the communities for their peaceful conduct during the search for the boundaries.
Also, Mr Olanrewaju Anjorin, the Command Public Relations Officer, on behalf of NCoS Controller, said the expanse of land and boundaries of the Maximum Security Centre at Olomi, had been a bone of contention between the service and the affected communities.
Anjorin said that coming to the area for location of the four pillars had made all parties to understand the level of encroachment of the land that belong to NCoS by the affected communities.
He called on people to stop buying land from the affected communities, saying those that have bought should collect back their money from those that sold the land to them.
Anjorin said engagement and solution on the issue would be done with those that had already been living in the affected communities.
He warned people in the affected communities to desist from further encroachment on land that belongs to NCoS.
“As you can see, lots of developers have encroached into the land and with time, we will know what to do with those concern,” Anjorin said.
He commended Gov.Seyi Makinde for stepping into the issue and other security agencies that witnessed the whole exercise.
Anjorin said that there was no other superior gazette, apart from that of 1980 that gave the ownership of the 242.65 hectares of land to NCoS.
On behalf of the affected communities, the Chairman of Oke-Elesin Community, Mr Azeez Muhammed, said the communities had seen the boundaries and that a lot of buildings have been built on the land.
Muhammed insisted that there was another gazette that was done in 1982, different from that of 1980, which NCoS relied upon.
He said the communities were not satisfied with the 1980 gazette that gave 242.65 hectares of land to NCoS. (NAN/vitalnewsngr.com)
