Edo State Government has commenced the recovery of plots of land, including those originally allocated for schools and the State University, Ekpoma, that have been encroached upon by individuals and groups.
Coordinator of the Protection of Government Property (PGP), Hon. Eugene Okolosie, who disclosed this in an interview said that over 2,000 plots of land illegally acquired by land grabbers have already been recovered across the state.
He noted that the list includes over 150,000 houses built on government land, both in the state capital and in other parts of Edo.
Okolosie appealed to prospective landowners to verify land status with the Edo Geographic Information Service (EdoGIS) to avoid becoming victims of land grabbers and speculators. He also revealed that the government had uncovered and sealed a brothel operating inside a primary school in Esan West Local Government Area.
According to him, “A lot of government property has been encroached upon. About 70 percent of our moats have been taken over, and public schools are the most affected. At Ambrose Alli University (AAU) alone, we have recovered several plots of land from land grabbers.”
He continued, “In one instance, the community reported that their signatures had been forged by land grabbers. We acted swiftly and recovered about 90 percent of the land, including those belonging to schools.”
“For example, in Ujuele Primary School, a brothel was built inside the school premises. We have sealed the brothel, and discussions are ongoing with the governor on how best to convert some of these recovered properties.”
“In Iyoba, the community divided the school property into two and sold half to private individuals. Even a food silo was sold—an investigation is underway, and those implicated have been invited for questioning.”
Okolosie revealed that the agency had received over 3,000 petitions from communities regarding the illegal acquisition of government property in the past two months alone, vowing that the government will recover all such properties.
