By Titus Oise,Benin
The Edo State government has said a total of N1.5 billion was collected by land grabbers from their victims in the last two years.
Hon.Chris Nehikhare, the State commissioner for Communication and Orientation made the disclosure in Benin City while briefing journalists on the resolutions of the State Executive Council meeting.
Nehikhare said the information was obtained from 499 people who are victims of land grabbers that come for data capturing and enumeration.
He said the money was collected from the victims by the land grabbers between 2020 and 2022 respectively.
He said the government will do everything possible to ensure that those that have been identified as land grabbers will be prosecuted and if found guilty will be sent to jail.According to him,”Edo State government is determined to sanitize the administration of land in the state. Following the recovery of government land in the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe axis,it was discovered that N1.5 Billion was collected by landgrabbers from the 499 Victims that have for enumeration and capture in the last two years “”The state government is determined to retrieve that money from the suspects and restitution the victims. So far,we have arrested 10 of the landgrabbers and they will soon be charged to court. The government is also appealing to Edo people to do due diligence on any property before development. This include finding out if such land is encumbered and register their plans with the appropriate authorities”.
While commending the people for the cooperation geared towards sanitizing land administration system in the state, he noted that the state government, Edo people and victims are not happy with the activities of land grabbers
The commissioner disclosed that the victims of the land grabbing will be restituted from whatever it was able to get from the land grabbers especially from the N1.5billion.
He also disclosed that the state government will soon commence the sale of its land in the Irhirhi areas as from January, 2023, and added that the people will benefit immensely from the sales of the land.
