The Kogi State Bureau of Land and Urban Development has cautioned communities within the state’s sixteen-kilometre radius to desist from allocating land without government approval.
The Director General of the Bureau, Alhaji Samari Teina Abdulmalik, gave the warning on Wednesday during a stakeholders meeting on land administration held in the government house in Lokoja.
Abdulmalik, who stated that the meeting was not convened to take away land belonging to communities, noted that the issue of the allocation of land within the stipulated 16-kilometre radius in the state’s capital is the prerogative and a right reserved for the Bureau of Land and Urban Development.
He warned that sanctions await whoever goes against the Land Use Act of the federal government and the Kogi State Law, which calls for a 16-kilometre radius, assuring that the government would not relent in its effort to pay compensation for any land acquired from communities.
“We are not here to take anyone’s land, but I assure you that any land that the government takes from any community will be adequately compensated for.
“So we want the communities and other stakeholders to stop the arbitrary allocation of land without government approval.
“Whoever needs land should come to the Bureau so that we can have a proper plan and good layout that will pave the way for development because it is in our plan to effect massive development in Lokoja, the state capital.”
In his remarks, the Olu of Oworo, Alhaji Mohammed Adoga, described the stakeholders meeting on land administration as timely and urged the Bureau to intervene in the land dispute that has become a major threat to development in many communities.
Also in his remarks, Oba Fedrick Durojaye, the Olu of Akpata-Oworo, described land as a precious gift of nature to communities, stressing that “it is imperative to the land owners to guard it jealously.
The Royal Father appealed to the state government to bring development to rural areas by opening access roads, providing electricity, and other basic necessities of life.
“It is time for communities to allow government presence in their areas for viable development,” he stated.
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