The Federal Controller of Housing in Lagos State, Mrs Margaret Adejobi, has cried out against activities of land grabbers who deliberately encroach and sell off gazetted Federal Government land acquisitions in the state.
In an interview with The Tide source yesterday in Lagos, Adejobi urged prospective buyers to verify all lands with state and federal government agencies in order not to fall victims of land grabbers.
She said that land grabbers usually ignore compensations paid to their fathers and still deliberately encroach on gazetted government acquisitions, fraudulently selling same land to multiple buyers.
She said several people did not know the difference between acquired and free land and called on the media to intensify awareness campaigns to curb the menace.
“All acquired lands are gazetted and there are records. If you want to verify, you write officially to the ministry, we have our survey department, we have perimeters of the place,” she said.
Adejobi said the search and verification procedures for land were free and appealed to members of the public to take advantage of the services of the ministry to protect their investments.
“With the way Lagos is, anybody that wants to buy land should first of all search, when you come to the ministry, we have a cadastral department, we have surveyors there.
“Even if you go to the Lagos State Survey Department, they will tell you that the land belongs to the federal government, “ she said.
The controller lamented that victims of land grabbers were innocently still buying federal government land daily, including the ones that had been sold off to new owners.
“This Omo onile issue is really giving us headaches; in fact, I get court summons on a daily basis, on federal lands, between Omo Oniles and allottees,” she said.
The federal controller, however, blamed some government agencies for leaving their lands fallow for too long, giving opportunity for encroachments.