By Kunle SHONUGA
Edo State Government has threatened to sanction owners of illegal structures under the Electricity High Tension Transmission Line across the state.
Oye Erimona, the state’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, gave the warning in a statement on Saturday in Benin.
He said such owners should immediately remove the illegal structures, saying “actions of the defaulters amount to an act of ‘illegality’.
” It constitutes environmental nuisance and threat to the lives and property of the violators and users of such space.”
According to him, the state has observed with dismay the illegal development of structures under and within the statutory right of way of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) or Electricity High Tension Transmission Line across the State.
“The act of illegality has constituted serious environmental nuisance and threat to the lives and property of the violators and users of such space.
“The state government condemns this act of violation and advises all owners of such illegal structures to with immediate effect remove them without delay.
“Failure to comply with the above directive, the Ministry will not hesitate to enforce appropriate sanctions against violators in line with extant Planning Laws of the State.
“The government will remove all the illegal structures and recover the cost of carrying out such exercise,” Erimona warned.
