Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has assured that there would be no demolition of standing structures within 150 and 500 metres of the Ibadan Circular Road corridor.
This is as he promised that existing buildings within the 150-500 metres will be integrated into the development of the corridor.
Makinde gave this assurance on Monday while addressing hundreds of building owners who had since last week staged daily protests in front of the state secretariat, Ibadan.
He said the marking of properties outside 150 metres was mainly to know the number of affected structures not that they were marked for demolition.
He assured the protesters that further enumeration would be done jointly with the communities as he called on the residents to send representatives who would sit with the authorities to determine how they would be accommodated in the corridor development.
The Oyo governor, however, cautioned against erection of new structures within 150 and 500 metres of the Ibadan Circular Road corridor.
Makinde explained that it was the administrations of former governors Lam Adesina and Rashidi Ladoja that set the 150 metres mark, while the administration of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi acquired and gazetted additional 350metres.
He said: “I have a solution. For now, there will not be any demolition and I have asked them to put a stop to whatever demolition they are doing.
“I promise you, anyone, who already has a building within the 150m-500 metres, none of the houses that are standing right there will be demolished, but there must be no further development on that corridor.
“From now, don’t start laying house foundation within the corridor because we must plan the place.
“You will have to appoint some representatives in these communities to sit down with the government and look for a way out, because we are doing the Circular Road project so that we can create employment opportunities for our people. We will have industries along the corridor.”
Speaking earlier, Mr Niyi Fasoye and Mr Azeez Olaide, appealed to the governor, not to acquire 500 metres, otherwise more than 400,000 building owners will become homeless.
Fasoye urged the state government to limit the road setback to 150 metres, as gazetted by the administration of Senator Rashidi Ladoja in 2006.
Olaide said that all affected property owners on the circular road corridor were in panic and lived in fear since the marking of buildings commenced and appealed Makinde to prevail on officials assigned to stop the markings.
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