Kingsley Agomoh, the Chairman of Urban Capital Development Authority (UCDA)in Abia State has revealed that over 170 school lands in the State have been encroached on by individuals.
Mr. Agomoh said none of the occupants of the encroached lands have Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) as he listed Oloko Centra School, Government College Umuahia, Ndume Otuka Secondary School(Ahia-eke), Ibeku High school, special school for the blind(Afara), Government Secondary Technical School (Afara) as some of the over 170 schools encroached on in the state.
The UCDA chairman gave the revelation while responding to questions from journalists in a radio program in Umuahia on Tuesday.
Mr. Agomoh assured that the government is out to reclaim the encroached lands from those without a certificate of occupancy after several warnings have been sent.
As regards the recent controversial properties being demolished at Government College, Umuahia by Abia government, Mr. Agomoh said the encroachers couldn’t present a certificate of occupancy and from records, Abia government hasn’t revoked the certificate of occupancy of the land from the original owners.
Mr. Agomoh affirmed that some few individuals from the community sold the lands to individuals who didn’t acquire complete documentation before erecting their structures, thus, their fencing perimeter was demolished and the building handed to Government College management.
In his words: “The chairman of Ndume Umuana community where Government College Umuahia is situated, the secretary, the exco, the youth, community themselves said those people that did that, did it on their own, they don’t have any backing of the community. The day we pulled down those fences, the entire youths were present. They said the people that sold the lands did it completely on their own. The youths wanted to take laws into their hands because they were quite angry but we intervened.
Asking about the court injunction document in circulation, dismissing the suit which should have halted the demolition, Agomoh said “there’s no court injunction”.
“As we speak there’s no court injunction. Government College Umuahia, have been trying to go to court but at a point withdrew the case and reported it to the government and the present government believes in doing the right thing.” Mr. Agomoh said.
Mr. Agomoh also revealed that some of the buyers of the lands had been coming to his office and they complained that the sellers of the land had refused to pick their calls.
He advised that all who want to acquire property should always ask for the certificate of occupancy before buying any land, he also pleaded with Abians to join hands with the government of Governor Alex Otti to reposition Abia.
He also hinted that governor Alex Otti has set up a committee to look into the encroachment on public schools in the state and the committee is headed by the Chief of staff to the state government, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, Ph.D.
Efforts made to reach the buyers of the land proved abortive as the time of filing this report.
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