Some citizens resident in Lagos have expressed displeasure over the failure of the state government to allocate lands to them 10 years after making payments.They lamented that the government refused to refund them or reply to letters on the issue.

 

City Round learnt that the Land Bureau, Governor’s Office, in 2009 advertised allocation of land at Orisan Water Front Residential Scheme, Lekki, and Millennium Residential Scheme I, Igbogbo, GRA, Ikorodu.

It was gathered that successful applicants were issued allocation letters which they used to make payments.

While a plot of land in Igbogbo was sold for N455,412, that of Orisan Water Front cost N3,308,640.

A retiree, Mr Olutayo Obikoya, said he bought a plot of land in Igbogbo for his daughter as a gift for graduating in flying colours.

He said his daughter and her husband wanted to build on the land after marriage but couldn’t do so as the state government had yet to allocate plots to the buyers.

Obikoya stated, “In 2009 when my daughter was about to complete her first degree, I promised to give her a parcel of land if she did well. I bought the land for N455,412 at the Millennium Residential Scheme I, Igbogbo in her name and gave her after she graduated.

“I got an allocation letter from the Land Use Allocation Committee dated April 18, 2009, stating the money I was supposed to pay. It was fully paid. When my daughter got married, she and her husband wanted to build on the land but they could not proceed.

“After several complaints, one of the officials at the Land Bureau told me there was no land at Igbogbo and advised me to apply to another place in Agbowa. He said I would pay additional money.

“I was surprised. If they would take me to another place, they shouldn’t ask me to pay additional money. I told him that I was not sure of getting another land if I paid. He then advised me to apply for a refund.”

Obikoya said her daughter applied for a refund in 2016 and the letter was acknowledged, adding that since then, they did not hear from the state government.

He added, “I went there one day and told a woman I met that what the government is doing is worse than what land grabbers are doing. This is like fraud. My daughter relocated to the United States of America three years ago. If she had got the land, it might have tied her and her husband down here in Nigeria. My wife is in the same boat. She bought a plot at Igbogbo and also applied for a refund, but nothing happened.”

Another affected buyer, Mr Sola Sessi, said some of them wrote to the state government about three years ago, requesting a refund of their payments.

He told our correspondent that the government promised to act on their request but had not shown any commitment since then.

He said, “I bought the land in Igbogbo in 2009 but till now, I have not heard anything from the state government. Those of us affected sent an application to the government to refund us if they cannot give us the land we paid for. The government should not owe the citizens.

“They collected the letter and promised that we would hear from them.  We have not heard from them. Why should government be pinching from the citizens they are supposed to take care of?”

A lawyer, Mr Lawal Umar, and his wife, are also worried that they couldn’t get value for their money after paying for a plot of land in Orisan Water Front and Igbogbo respectively.

Umar, who said the state government had been evasive over the years, likened the situation to a fraudulent act, adding that he regretted persuading some people to buy the land.

He said, “My wife bought a parcel of land in Igbogbo while I bought one at Orisan Water Front in Lekki for about N3.5m. Despite the fact that we have fully paid, we have not got the land. I learnt that there was an issue between the state government and omoonile (natives) in Igbogbo. During the (Akinwunmi) Ambode administration, each time we approached the state officials over the matter, we would not get any definite response.

“Apart from the letter of allocation given to us, nothing has happened. We bought the land during the Babatunde Fashola administration. What they are doing is wrong. If it were a private organisation, people would say it was fraud. Why would a government do this? I even helped two other persons to buy the land but now I can’t face them. One of them was working in a bank then. I advised him to get the land since he would soon go on retirement.”

Responding to our correspondent’s enquiry on the matter, the Permanent Secretary, Land Bureau, Mr Bode Agoro, in a text message, said the government wanted to redesign Orisan Waterfront scheme due to the alleged illegal sand mining in the area.

 He said, “Okorisan Waterfront scheme is currently on hold due to the fact that we want to redesign the entire scheme. The redesigning became necessary due to unscrupulous sand diggers that have excavated and carted away huge quantities of sand from the scheme leaving huge holes/craters all over the scheme.

 “Once we have completed the redesigning and re-filling of the land with sand, those who have paid will be reallocated another parcel of land within the scheme.”

He was, however, silent on the Millennium Residential Scheme in Igbogbo and had yet to reply to a follow-up enquiry by our correspondent as of press time.

The people of Lagos State are tired of consistent harassment, intimidation by landgrabbers aided by cabals in government offices in Ministry of Lands, NTDA and others. Residents of Lewu-Odo, Enyira, and Abule-Parapo in Ibeju Lekki Local Government, Lagos, have implored Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to avert impeding bloodbath in the communities, due to landgrabbing activities.

During a peaceful demonstration to the Governor’s office midweek, the protesters, numbering over a 100, lamented that the landgrabbers’ ring leader has connived with officials of the state’s Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, to intimidate and endanger their lives, aside planning to forcefully take their legally acquired landed properties.

Brandishing placards with different inscriptions that conveyed their grievances, the demonstrators, mostly landlords and landladies, were led by Pa Mutiu Musa, a nonagenarian, and Alfa Musa Dauda, Chairman, Lewu-Odo Community Development Association.

Some of the placards read: Our dear Governor, we can’t breathe, please help us; Hon. Fatai Mojeed, Representative for Ibeju Lekki Constituency help us; Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development respect court judgment, leave Parapo, Lewu-Odo alone; Please call permanent secretary to order MPP & UD; Our lives and properties are not safe.

The CDA Chairman for Lewu-Odo Community said they are the legitimate owners of the lands and the buildings, as shown in the Certificate-of-Occupancy issued to them by the same Lagos State Government decades ago.

Dauda accused the state government of being the mastermind of the confusion, as it issued a second round of C-of-O on already certificated landed properties.

To correct the anomalies, traced to the administration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the Governor of Lagos State, Dauda said their group has repeatedly visited the subsequent governors, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, but to no avail.

According to him, it was imperative for Sanwo-Olu to rescue the low-income earning residents, who struggled through sweats and bloods to acquire the landed properties.

Also speaking, Alhaji Mukaila Isiaka said the armed landgrabbers have been terrorising them, reason government needs to act fast.