‘Land Use Act Does Not Hinder Dev’

An estate  consultant in Port Harcourt, Benjamin Oti has said that the land use act does not in any way delay or affect housing and property development, as widely speculated, but that it has made communities to be disadvantaged and well cheated in the scheme  of things.

Making this known in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Mr. Oti, who is the principal consultant of Ben. Oti and Co, an estate surveying firm, and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESX) stated  that the only setback that the land use act has is that the communities have been grossly cheated in the sense that they do not have power over their property, as government has absolute  power  to take or use Land that it wants, and pay very little  compensation to the communities.

According to him, whether or not government acquires land in any community it is till for development purposes, pointing out that several estates have been built by government, and private  operators have gone into partnership with government for development purposes.

Oti, who also holds a masters degree in environmental management stated that there  could be frictions and flexing of muscles between communities and government, if road project is embarked upon.

He said on the strength of the Land use act, government can embark on road project, both expansion and dualisation, and will only pay compensation  to any person or group whose structure is affected, but not compensation on the land.

The consultant also applauds the urban renewal programme of Rivers State Government, pointing out that he was involved in the exercise, and that government has  paid compensations on all demolished structures.

Corlins Walter