ILLEGAL STRUCTURE:WHY BUILD CASTLE IN THE AIR?
Less than 200 metres from the Dennis Osadebay University gate stood a bungalow,some footsteps,off busy Anwai Asaba -Ugbolu road.
Next to the building laid a white cottage,now a wreckage of broken blocks,mangled steel and collapsed wood.A roaring bulldozer,with a high-reach boom arm,bearing four giant metal teeth,had just demolished the cottage under a blistering afternoon sun.
Then the hydraulic machine slowly turned to the nearby bungalow adjacent to Dennis Osadebay University Minutes later,the building has crashed down,gone in unstoppable demolition.
The motorised excavator headed somewhere else-towards a one- storey building…
The Delta State Task Force on the Recovery of Government lands is in town,moving,marking down illegal structures at Asaba.
Why would any private developer get too close,build in the womb of a public university? Right on the doorsteps of state -owned Dennis Osadebay University.
This is the question begging for answer as the Bulldozer levels the land.
Why sell government land to individuals?
If the selfish land vendors are treacherous,the buyers are either naive or negligent.How can you buy rain in a rainforest?
Land is a symbolic strategic property.Buying land or real estate requires precaution,due diligence and double-check.
The deputy Vice-Chancellor,Academics and Research,Dennis Osadebay University, Prof Robert Oghenedoro Dode gave an instructive insight on the episode:
“This is the first time I am seeing this level of impunity where people encroach not just on the university but government lands and sell them to people to build massive structures.
“This is the university land meant for the Faculty of Agriculture and we thank the government for doing the right thing”
The Chairman of the Task Force,Chief Frank Omare,said they were mandated by the state government to recover all government lands illegally occupied by individuals or corporate bodies across the three senatorial districts in the state.
By precedence,demolition of illegal structures is a common phenomenon in Nigeria,where ubiquitous land speculators operate with reckless abandon.
But to nip the criminal tendency, government must ensure strict regulatory measures in the issuance of land titles,to discourage compromise and illegal acquisition of land.
Delta state is governed by a warm,friendly administrator with the kindest of heart as exemplified by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s people-centred “street credibility “
Sheriff is a lenient leader,but land encroachment is not part of his liberal M.O.R.E Agenda.
In your rural community to urban property,say no to land grabbing to safeguard our common patrimony.
-Norbert Chiazor
#EAMGOVDELTA
