Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Capt. Iniobong Ekong Rtd in this interview with Dennis Udoma in Uyo, opened up on a number of development issues and charged intended property buyers to seek the services of qualified lawyers for property search reports to avoid being swindled by land grabbers, others. Excepts:
Sir, there has hues in a section of the media recently over land issues with certain people and the Ministry of Lands and Water Resources. Can you shed more lights?
Thank you. Recently, there has been so much misrepresentations in the local media in the State about the ministry to the extent that, the owner of the property is now libeled as a “thief” and before you can riggle yourself out of the accusations it becomes a very herculean task. That is why I had to call you to totally educate our people on the issue of land and landed properties and procedures especially; as it affects the Uyo Capital City.
I want to let Akwa Ibom people know that, the ultimate thing that has happened for the development of this State, is the creation of Uyo Capital City Area by Ex – Governor (Arch) Obong Victor Attah. He did a very painstakingly job of redesigning what was hitherto a Local Government Area into what we now enjoy as the State capital.
Prior to that, he took time to acquire lots of places; where he designated some of them as commercial areas; industrial areas, also, some were housing estates scattered in a manner that, gave sanity to an emerging town in consonant with the internationally accepted practices of a well laid out planned metropolitan area.
So, this gave rise to Mbiabong Etoi, as a residential estate, properties acquired and compensated for; Ikot Eto-Ebeto Residential Estate gave rise to Nung Ette Residential Estate and they are all on ground. Eba – Oku Residential Estate on Uyo village road, and Afaha Oku Residential Estate that consists of various plots from A to J that I am very much aware.
It also gave rise to commercial layouts like; Atan Offot, Pound and Light that you have at Udo – Udoma Avenue up to where you have the Champion Breweries, Nung Oku where you have the Science Park which gave rise to the employment center areas. They were properly acquired and compensated for with layouts for people to see.
So, when did the State Government acquired All these lands?
Allocations to these acquisition were made from 2001 up to 2007; and some in 2010 and people have been given official letters to that effect as bonafide owners of these areas; be it commercial, residential, industrial or both.
But what happened by evolution of time and of course with lack of infrastructure in these areas makes it very difficult for anybody to move in especially, those with families accompanied with insecurity around us, and the need for a clean livelihood, people have not really been able to go in to establish residences or commercial properties as the case may be.
So, that gave rise to charlatans and gangs calling themselves all kinds of names just to be able to acquire these lands, not knowing that we are fully in possession of these lands by documentation, statutes and in practice.
They began to act as owners of these lands that had already been acquired by the government, I am not even talking of the Land Use Decree. Unsuspecting persons even became victims of these lands because, the challatants would pick up Mr. ‘A’ plot and sell including the ones earmarked as roads. Sometimes,there are situations where they pick up part of a particular designed plot and part of another and have a house in – between two plots; totally aim at turning well designed capital city to a slum.
So, what is the ministry doing to check the activities of these challatants in the land management system?
The ministry is working to reverse this trend. When I assumed office, what I set out to do, is quietly and systematically write these wrongs because wether anybody has political will or not, I have the legality; I have the political will and I have the capacity to reverse this trend and return the state to what it was meant to be. That is why you are having this outcry and the Ministry of Lands and Water Resources owes no apology to anyone as long as we have the legality to implement and the mandate to manage land (land administration) for and on behalf of the people of Akwa Ibom State.
I will do exactly what I am supposed to do and, we have set out quietly to write these wrongs and correct what our city is supposed to look like. That is why you are having these issues. The truth is that if anyone is interested in any purchase of land anywhere in this state, all you need to do is to secure the services of a lawyer who is armed with the information you need.
You need to approach the Lands Department and do what we call legal search. It costs little or nothing compared to the cost of a land. It costs about N8 000 to N20, 000 in the maximum. When a lawyer conducts a legal search, he gives what is called search report and will put a seal on that report which makes it genuine and you can also hold the lawyer liable in case of anything happening to your right of purchase.
That is the process and so the first thing I want this interface to tell our people is; henceforth , people should begin to secure the services of a qualified lawyer to conduct property search for them for any land they want to buy in Uyo capital city.
Does the government policy affect community lands?
There is nothing like community land in Uyo Capital City. The so – called community land is a creation by fraudsters and land grabbers to perpetuate their illegal trade and hoodwink innocent people to things that are wrong. It is entirely their imagination or coinage of their illegal business.
Unfortunately, the direction of the previous administration before me, was not tailored towards correcting these sharp practices but, for the length of time I am going to be here, we will address these issues squarely and ensure that legality is restored as a form of living for our people.
What would you do differently in the face of a seeming struggle on land administration for government with the quacks?
I will not sit as a Commissioner of Lands and watch people fritter away their hard earned resources into the hands of land grabbers and fraudsters.
We have begun to repossess these plots especially, the area covered by Anua – Ifa, Ikot Okpon and Etoi. That is why we have block A, B, C, D,E, F, G, H even up to J. Now, government is not out to brutalize people. When you see infraction you must have a method of addressing it, while keeping your eyes on your target.
Sometimes, you pacify the people but you know that legally, you are hundred percent correct. So, in trying to get back these lands to the owners, certain discussions can come up and certain palliatives can be made to the people so that we can have our way and get the right thing done.
I think, that may be the reason people are mistaking us, as coming to pay compensation twice. So, in order to pacify the people, generations have gone between when these lands were acquired and now. Somebody will just come up to say that, we were there. I will tell you that, you couldn’t have been there when you were not born yet because, you were probably not qualified as at that time to be in possession, to hear or even take decisions.
The evolution of time and generation are coming up as generations are going. So, if in a generation that these things were done you were not there, it does not give you the right to challenge what had been done before.
That is the problem we are having and so, when you see journalists come to the pages of newspaper and accuse a sitting governor of land grabbing it’s pitiable.
No governor can grap land because in the first place, even if government wants to take a land, land belongs to the government and government has the right to choose any part of it for any purpose at any given time as long as it’s for the collective public interest.
Does it mean that the Governor cannot grab land if he wishes to do so?
It is an insult to any governor for any body to say governor had grabbed land for what purpose? Land is made for investment, development and for the good living of the people and there is an administration in place. But this issue we are talking about is not to explore new avenues; it’s restoring what it was, what it supposed to be.
The danger of this is that, anybody who bought these areas owned by government is infact, like you don’t have any property in the eyes of the law; you don’t have a property because No. 1, you don’t have an allocation letter No. 2, you don’t have an approved plan and so, you are just living in a house that you don’t have property title.
Nobody in the banking or financial sector will take anything from you as collateral or anything investment without certification and you can’t have it.
But what are people who bought these lands and build on them unknowingly going to do?
That is the second phase of what we are trying to do. We are not totally out to inconvenience people or dislocate livelihoods. We check within the confines of civilized channels, how we can help you to even have the legality over the property you may have wrongly acquired.
And so, we have come up with a second plan that having build and stayed, and probably for this period of time, normalize your stay by normalizing your title. And we have opened a second corridor for that purpose so that, it won’t look as if government is totally out to make things difficult for the people.
Therefore, so much progress have been made but I want to say, because we have sacrifice so much, some of these houses are built on earlier designed roads that we have to sacrifice for sake of say; government is about the welfare of the people. Ideally, they are supposed to have been brought down. So, those are the facts, we are making.
The first thing you do is; get a lawyer to certify the portion you want to purchase and forget about the stories anybody is telling you on the streets. These are structures, offices and channels you can confirm investments. Purchase of land is not biscuit and you must go that extra mile, make use of qualified professionals (Layers, Valuers, Town planners to guide you and they pick peanuts out of the cost of what you want to acquire.
We must respect that aspect No. 2, an attempt to go against that will give you a property of no standing; you are just living and if unfortunately you pass on your children will have no claims to make. But again, we have opened a second channel; you can normalize or legalize this and now go and work backwards to ensure that you conform to all the statutes in order for you to have something to put on the table in exchange for your property in case of a rainy day.
The State Government is making effort to expand development in the building sector by establishing more estates. Can you mention some of them, if compensation have been paid?
Yes! Further development for instance, in Mbierebe Akpawat, we have opened ground for ARISE Estate. Government has done all the necessary things and as I speak to you, monies are available for them to be paid their compensation; those are new areas and everything is going on well.
In Nsit Ubium where you have the Soghai Farms, we have taken positions of over 50 hectares of land and money have been made available for appreciation, not even compensation because those were lands that donated by the people.
In the Police College (field), compensation is being paid. We are paying compensations in over 5 locations. There is Renal Center at Itak, we have compensation to pay in Ekpene Ukim, Mbierebe Akpawat; we are paying compensations in almost six centers at the same time.
So, is this the government that grabs land? Government owns land. In order for government to take land into development, we carry people along; we consult with people properly both the traditional and otherwise; we do inventory and census of properties.
We make valuations, assessment and we pay for it. We don’t take possessions before payment otherwise, you would have been seeing people go on the streets. So, these are the issues that I wanted to put to proper light
Governor Umo Eno, having served as Commissioner for Lands cannot in any way fault processes or procedures in land administration and management, not to talk of brutalizing people for the purpose of land acquisition. It is uncivilized, it is condemnable and it is not in our character.
When you say Government does not fault processes or procedures in land management, what about the issues at Anua, Ifa Ikot Okpon, Etoi Government Residential Estate, where a property on Plot A, No. 289, issued with allocation letter up to CofO has been brought down and the owner is fighting for it to be restored?
We are not aware of that because , if we issue land and give you documentation up to Certificate of Occupancy then definitely, we are not the ones that came to do the destruction and in our parlance; “you cannot bring out a bird from your pocket and shoot it”.
For that to have happened , two things may be possible;
Still back to the issue of land grabbing.
Probably, the land grabbers were very vicious prior to my assumption of office as Commissioner. They probably may have sold that land to an unsuspecting buyer and in trying to impress that buyer, they can move with their boys at night to break the fence just to prove to who they collected money from to show that this is not legal and that they are the ones that are legal.
So, now that you have brought it to my knowledge, I am going to immediately move into it and confirm what the matter really is.
Let me also educate you a little on the green area; the government of Obong Victor Attah had a master plan that he proposed for Akwa Ibom State for Uyo Capital City for instance. Master plans are not cast on stone, they are developmental projections.
And a master plan is only valid for 10 years. It can be reviewed, it can be subject to approval by Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to make it a law and implementable. Unfortunately, Akwa Ibom State Developmental Plan has not been passed into law up till now and that’s why we are working on a master plan and a regional plan for Akwa Ibom State and Uyo Capital City.
As we speak, we are working on a master plan but it has to come from the projections that had been handed over time which we have not faulted but we can improve upon subject to the dynamics of operations or demographics.
God is creating more people but is not creating more lands. So, you cannot for sake of security say this place was greenery (green area). So, you now have 1,000 and bunch them. No! Life is dynamic and things must change. So, what could have been green area yesterday is subject to developmental needs to become a develop area today, a hospital yesterday can become a residential area today; what was a school can become a farmland. Depending on what government perceives as exigency as long as it addresses the common interest of the people; it wasn’t cast on stone.
So, when you begin to hear people say; this is a green area; please people should give me the Biblical reference because that is the Book we cannot change but as long as it’s a social service, a developmental process it must undergo review from time to time subject to the world order and international best practices.
That’s how it is. That’s why we have Urban Renewal Department in some states because whatever had been done is subject to renewal and it could either be compress or as the need arises. So when people begin to talk too dogmatic about things that had been set out; and of course, our forebears knew, that’s why the master plan has a validity.
If it was supposed to be straightjacket then, the idea of reviewing it after 10 years wouldn’t have been there. We need to bring ourselves up to channels that may not have been directly our calling or educational direction so that we understand how the whole system works.
Another thing is that, government doesn’t sale land; government allocates land and in the process there are statutory fees that you suppose to pay into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Account not even to the Ministry of Lands.
Any account that you are given for anything land or related issue that is not IRS, please don’t pay. Ministry of Lands does not collect any money for anything land. The account you are to pay to is AKIRS and the code you will use on payment subject to what the banks tell you will now let IRS know that, it is for lands on so many sub – heads; Land Used and Allocation Committee, Uyo Capital City, Surveyor General Office, Ministry of Lands, etc. All of us generate our income or revenue into IRS and they have codes for those offices. And so, you pay for survey, the premium, ground rent but not in cash. Ministry of Lands does not have anything to do with cash payment.
Again, whst about the plots of lands government issued with documents and latter being dragged. What do you have to say?
That is why I have said, we shall investigate now that, you have brought a particular case in question. Thank God is not an area; it’s a particular case and our activities is not even in Block A. Block A supported to be close to Monty Suites. Our activities is not even there. But it could be a tussle. Again, if it is not reported to us, our work is to give you allocation. It is the work of the owner to take his own occupation. Occupy where you have been given.
If there is a challenge to you occupying a particular land that government had given you a letter to, please approach a Court of Law. You don’t need to even come to us except if the documents we gave you is faulty and we have not done that.
If we give you an allocation letter, you follow with survey and they tell you that this is your plot of land, an attempt to take your land, any resistance from anyone is subject to the decision of the court. What do the court do? The court checks your title hold on that land and compares the superiority and the inferiority of title and of course there is a common law that, if you own the land, you own everything on the land. So, even if somebody challenges, that is why we need to address these matters, that is why we are trying to harmonize occupations because you can build on somebody’s land you don’t have allocation letter, whatever you build on that land, if taken before the Court of law would be decided in favour of that man who has allocation letter. What you can do is to carry away what you developed.
So, these are the things we are trying to realign so that you would not innocently build on a land whose title is with somebody else because if the person wakes up in 20 years and challenges the ownership of that property, you will probably not have it. You will definitely loose it because you have no papers, title and approval. That would look like somebody giving birth without pregnancy.
I will take your observation and direct my Director Development and Control to give me a brief on it. It is an isolated case and it worths our knowledge and if there is a tussle, it is for the court to decide not Ministry of Lands. Ministry of Lands can come to the court to testify as to the true ownership subject to what we have in our records and that is where our job ends, the decision is for the court to tell who has what or who does not have.
What achievements have you recorded so far as Lands and Water Resources Commissioner?
Well, I cannot in absolute sincerity speak for myself but I have the history at my back even as I am still working. I came in here with a purpose. To live this place better than I met it, my conscience, my activities, my feedbacks convinced me that I am on the path of success.
I cannot in the middle of the stream tell you that water doesn’t enter my eyes probably, on a day I am given the right to leave here, I will look back but I will know that my activities is filled with progress.
We have made significant progress in land administration as to the propriety of ownership and legality of status. We have made significant progress in acquisition and opening up of roads, sites/services and we have fence off as a percussion to further encroachment of government acquired estates.
We are doing that with so much history at our back. We made progress in communal education and interface to make sure that they don’t have the fear of government coming into your location to pick up land because we don’t pick up land to perpetuate authority; we pick up land to develop your environments, yourself and government interest and that of the larger society.
We have done so much but again, history is what would actually judge me when I leave but I am confident that I am not doing things that are too wrong.
Please, kindly google Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Captain Iniobong Ekong Rtd.
His pictures would be abound.
Thank you.
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