Enugu gets land laws to promote ease of doing business

The Enugu State government has assured investors of ease of doing business and safety of their business with the signing new land laws in the state.

The new laws are the Enugu State Properties Protection Law and the Enugu State Ranch Management Law.

Whereas the first is aimed to checkmate the activities of land grabbers, the second is intended to stem the tide of open grazing and attract both local and foreign investment in the livestock industry.

Peter Mbah, the governor of the state, hopes that with these laws, the days of land-grabbing and open grazing in the state were numbered.

“The Enugu State Properties Protection Law is in line with our promise to enhance the ease of doing business in Enugu State. People, who come to Enugu State to invest in property, must do so with the knowledge that the title document that is issued to them is worth much more than the paper that it is written on.

“That is why we frown at land grabbers, people who go out there to grab land even when they do not have any title to that land. Essentially, this law is designed to penalyse such acts,” the governor said.

He explained that the laws are big warning to those people who engage in going to empty plots of land to grab them, stressing that under the new law, there are severe and strict punishments that await people who get themselves involved in such acts,” he said.

The governor regretted the misunderstanding that has followed the Ranch Management Agency Law, saying that with the law in place, people were now expected to rear cows in a civilised manner.

“This law, I believe, has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. We had sometime been accused of surreptitiously trying to introduce something beyond just ranching. However, we have to put an end to the idea of having cattle graze openly which creates friction between our farmers and herders. Our objective here is to ensure that it ends, he said.

Continuing, the governor noted, “in the 21st Century, there is no reason we should encourage the open grazing of cattle. So, this law is essentially designed to ensure that people act in a civilised manner. We are going to ensure that we have enough services, create abattoir and proper cattle market, not where people will come and live.”

He commended the State House of Assembly for passing expeditiously the various executive bills initiated by his administration, saying such partnership was the beauty of democracy.

At the signing ceremony were the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Uchenna Ugwu, the Clerk of the House, As Emma Udaya, and other senior government functionaries.

In his remarks, Ugwu expressed happiness that the bills laws would better the lives of the people of Enugu State, assuring that the House would continue to partner with the executive for the common good.

The governor also signed the Enugu State Sports Development Fund Law to reposition the sports sector as a major source of economic growth, and the Enugu State Environmental and Climate Protection Law.

On the Environmental and Climate Protection Law, he said the state government understands the importance of just going beyond mere lip service in protecting the environment.

“So, what we have done here today is to set out clear policies and plans for us to protect our environment. We all know the danger that the depletion of the ozone layer poses to us as a people,” he said.

The Enugu State Sports Development Fund Law, the governor explained, would assist the state to “build capacity, nurture talents from the grassroots, encourage school sports, and essentially develop our sports sector.”

“We see sports not just as recreation. We see it as a veritable sector by means of which we can encourage business. And the bill that is signed into law today is going to help us accomplish it,” the governor assured.