NISIR gets ultimatum to repossess stolen land

HIGHER Education Minister Brian Mushimba has given the new board at National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR) six months to repossess its land in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt which has been encroached by unknown people.

Dr Mushimba said it was unacceptable for land which was reserved for viable projects to be illegally subdivided by individuals in the name of being cadres of a political party.

Speaking during the inauguration of the new management board for NISIR, Dr Mushimba said NISIR land had been divided and allocated to people without permission.

He has since given the new board six months to rectify the situation and see to it that those responsible face the law.

“You should handle over encroachers to police so that they can be prosecuted by the courts of law. This cannot be allowed to continue,” said Dr Mushimba.

Dr Mushimba also urged the institute to commercialise research for the institution to be sustainable.

“As a new board you have to turn around this institution and make it sustainable, you are signing up to get all your land back people are selling land and how they get titles no one knows.

“We are a country of laws we cannot continue looking at all your land built on, people are building on this land. How you allow a political cadre to go sub divide your land is beyond me, but now you have a board that is going to hold management to account on all facets of running the institution,” he said.

And the minister has observed that the outbreak of the Coronavirus is awakening the nation to the value of research.

He said industrial research and scientific solution were important in overcoming the challenges that the country was facing.