Surveyors raise alarm over mass land acquisition by cronies for governors

The Nigerian Institute of Surveyors (NIS) has raised alarm over mass acquisition of lands by state governors.

The National President of the institution, Surv. Akinloye Oyegbola said the land acquisitions were being carried out through cronies under the guise of using such for developmental purposes.

Oyegbola, described the act as illegal and obnoxious implementation of the Land Use Act 2004. He said, “The Land Use Act has good concept going by what it entails but the Chief

Executive Officers of some of our states are now using it wrongly. They acquire lands in different locations for the purpose of development but they end up using it for something else.

“Some of these plots of land are already subjects of litigation and this will definitely cause problems for generations yet unborn. The institution is concerned about the activities of this land grabber because they are disturbing our operations.”

Oyegbola also described as worrisome the ways land grabbers popularly referred to as `Omo-onile` prevent surveyors from carrying out their duties.

“There are instances when our men have to go to site with policemen for them to feel safe. The recent step taken by the Lagos state government will definitely help curb their activities and other state governors need to emulate Lagos in this regard”, he said.

The Institution President also appealed to the governors to come up with laws that would check the excesses of land grabbers as being done in Lagos state.