Lagos State government on Wednesday warned illegal developers and land speculators along the fast developing Lekki-Epe corridor to immediately desist from their unlawful activities or face prosecution.
Rotimi Ogunleye, commissioner for commerce, industry and co-operatives, issued the directive after undertaking a tour of the area in which the 16,347 hectares Lekki Free Zone (LFZ) project is sited.
He said the state government had observed with dismay the massive encroachments by private estate developers and land speculators swindling members of the public into purchasing the parcel of lands in the corridor, which, he said, were within government’s acquisition.
Ogunleye warned that those purchasing such lands without proper investigation at the Land Bureau and the Surveyor General’s Office stood the risk of losing their money, stressing that apart from the portions being acquired land they were committed to LFZ projects, resettlement of affected communities and other schemes.
He noted that signposts of private estates, private university, companies, military zones and host of others were some of the encroachments discernible on the wide expanse of land.
The commissioner said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had approved appropriate stern measures to be taken to deal decisively with the illegal developers and remove the structures on the lands.
He advised members of the public to be wary of dubious advertisements on “land purchase beside the Lekki Free Zone” sponsored by private estate developers often aired on almost all radio stations, especially operating in the state.
He, however, assured the people of the state that the developmental project that this land were acquired for by the state were steadily progressing, citing the Lekki Free Zone project and Dangote Refinery and Petrol Chemical plant as part of the multi-billion dollars investment flow into the corridor.
JOSHUA BASSEY
