By Kunle SHONUGA
The Speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly, Mr Adeniran Alagbada, has reiterated the assembly’s commitment to the passage of bills that will bring development to the state.
Alagbada gave the assurance on Friday in his opening address at the public hearing on Ekiti Property Protection (Anti Land Grabbing) Bill, 2019.
” Ekiti State House of Assembly will continue to support all executive bills as well as private sponsored bills that will promote peace and bring about development in the state,’’ he said.
Alagbada, who described the bill as important for development, said its eventual passage would be based on the contributions of stakeholders.
The Chairman, House Committee on Lands, Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, Sunday Akinniyi, said the bill would address one of the most challenging issues of modern society.
“The bill under consideration will put an end to the use of threat and violence for the purpose of securing entry into any land or using force to take over the property of another person and other related unlawful acts in Ekiti.
” This bill when eventually passed into law will provide for the establishment of a Task Force Unit in the state under the Bureau of Lands and Housing which shall be responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of the law,” Akinniyi said.
He called on stakeholders to critically and carefully look into the bill in all aspects so that areas considered not needed could be removed while those useful could be incorporated into it.
NAN reports that the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Ekiti, Mr Olawale Fapounda, said the bill was important to the present government under the leadership of Gov. Kayode Fayemi.
“Land is an important resource in the state and our vision is to remove obstacles in doing business in the state.
” This bill is to prohibit the forceful takeover and illegal possession of land in the state, ” Fapounda added.
The commissioner, however, proposed the setting up of a technical committee that would fine tune the bill because of its importance.
Another contributor and a retired Director in the Federal Ministry of Information, Chief Olugboyo Ogunleye, called for regular awareness programme on lands in Ekiti in order to guide prospective buyers.
Other contributors like a former Ekiti Commissioner of Land and Urban Development, Mr Remix Olorunleke, and Prof. Olusegun Orise called for a well designed master plan in order to bring about orderliness in town planning.
Many contributors also called for critical legislative scrutiny of the bill so that it would not contravene the Nigerian constitution.
TBI Africa said that the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, who was represented at the occasion by Chief Kayode Ogunleye.
