Group Wants Laws Against Indiscriminate Sale Of Land In Southwest
In a bid to achieve sustainable development in the use and management of land resources, a regional group has advocated the enactment of law that would place restrictions on outright sale of land by owners to no-state indigenes.
The group, Yoruba Emancipation Union Worldwide, in an open letter to Southwest governors and legislatures, signed by its director general, Prof. EFG Ajayi, and general secretary, Pastor Agbebi Joel Adebola stated that the law became imperative to avoid a situation where the inheritance passed unto them by their forefathers get exhausted and thereby rob incoming generation of any rights over their land.
The group noted with dissatisfaction what they described as indiscriminate and outright sale of landed properties by individuals, families, communities, traditional rulers, custodians,among others to non-state indigenes, companies, associations, groups among others adding that land as factor of production can be exhausted.
They recommended a lease spanning not more than 30 years to be put in place to allow reversionary interest to operate, instead of outright sale of land comprised in each state.
They contended that areas designated as residential, should be strictly adhered to, and anyone who flout the said gazetted designation, should have his title and or right of occupancy revoked.
“South Western Nigeria Governors should immediately revoke and or invalidate the Certificate of Occupancy regarding residential areas already converted to commercial buildings
“Where a corporate entity purports to have desire in acquiring land, due diligence should be carried out to ascertain the person(s) wearing the corporate veil and reject such proposed fraudulent acquisition.
We wish to state “and the man died, who in the face of tyrannical acquisition, kept silent.”
YEU in their clarion call warned that if the region fails to put our thinking caps on and put in place legal framework in the whole South Western Nigeria, it might be too late, when they wake up to discover that all their land resources, have been sold out.
ENDS