The Ogun State Property & Investment Corporation (OPIC) has embarked on a demolition exercise of all illegal structures on acquired land in OPIC Estate, Agbara.
The Managing Director of OPIC, Mr. Babajide Odusolu, gave the demolition order during an official tour of OPIC Estate, Agbara, where he inspected areas 1,2 and 3 as well as the Agbara – Ijanikin Lagoon link.
He lamented the illegal activities of private developers, block making industries and trailer parks within the estate which had become a serious revenue leakage and economic sabotage to the State.
‘’Purchasing government lands from land grabbers and speculators is economic sabotage. One of the cases investigated revealed that a victim who ought to have paid N400 million to the government coffers chose to patronize the fraudsters, paying just 10 percent of what was payable to the government’’, he said.
Adding that despite the efforts made via the mass media to warn and educate the public and the ‘’land grabbers’’ to desist from encroaching on government lands, they remained adamant, stressing that victims of illegally acquired land and structures who might be found to have acquired the land unknowingly would be accommodated elsewhere while those found to have intentionally opted to defraud the government would eventually be apprehended and handed over to the law enforcement agents.
In a related development, occupants who were on virgin lands for one form of economic activity or the other have been advised to approach OPIC for registration to avoid confiscation of their properties, equipment and even prosecution.
OPIC has warned that those who refuse to register their economic activities while on the lands would equally be treated as economic saboteurs.