The Nation Newspaper

Tag: landed property

  • NNPC commences recovery of N100b landed property

    The NNPC Properties Ltd (NPL), the real estate management company of the NNPC, has commenced the recovery of the corporation’s landed property worth N100b across the nation.

    This was disclosed by the NNPC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ventures, Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, at the maiden edition of NPL Property Festival which held yesterday the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

    Adeniran stressed that the focus of the NNPC Properties Ltd had shifted from the initial lease administration of collecting rents from tenants of the NNPC Properties to “exploring all commercial opportunities available in the real estate market to efficiently position itself as one of the key players of repute that fits the NNPC brand”.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu made this known in a statement yesterday.

    According to him, the current aggressive commercial drive by the NPL was yielding results as the company had recovered a number of the corporation’s landed property which had been lying idle across the country.

    He listed some of the recovered property to include: a 92-hectre parcel of land on Chevron Drive, Lekki, Lagos; Royal Grove Estate, Port-Harcourt, and others in Abuja and Kaduna.

    He said all the recovered property would be developed for the benefit of NNPC staff.

    Dr. Adeniran commended the Management of the NPL for developing the Third Party Home Ownership Scheme for staff with competitive interest rates from reliable banks and affordable deals from credible developers.

  • Lagos family seeks govt intervention on landed property

    The Oyemade Royal Family of Ijeshatedo, Lekki, has asked the Lagos State Government to be cautious in granting consent to prospective applicants wishing to transact and carry out any form of development on the family land in Lekki, Lagos.

    Head of the family, Otunba Babatunde Rahman, told reporters at the weekend that the plea being made to the government was informed by the presence of persons and organisations wanting to carry out development on their land with out their consent and authorisation.

    Rahman claimed that the family, under the aegis of Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Limited, has petitioned the Lagos State Government asking for its intervention in what it described as ‘unauthorised dealings’ on their land. The said land, he claimed, was acquired during the General Mobolaji Johnson (rtd.) regime in 1972 and covered by a Certificate of Occupancy registered as 75/75/1996AE, by an estate agent whose service they had dispensed with.

    In a letter to the Registrar of Titles, Lands Bureau, Alausa, Ikeja dated October 17, 2016, the holding company owned by the Oyemade Royal Family formally informed the state government that it had disengaged the services of the estate agent (names withheld) formerly granted the power of attorney over their land  in Sangotedo, along Lekki/Epe road in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state.

    The letter was titled: “Embargo on the grant of consent to prospective applicants on Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Limited covered by a Certificate of Occupancy registered as 75/75/1996AE situate at Sangotedo by Monastry Road, Eti-Osa LGA, Lagos State” and signed by director of the company, Otunba Babatunde Rahman  and five shareholders viz Chief Muka Bajulaiye, Alhaja Ajimot Ashaku Adisa, Chief Adelaja Nureni, Mrs Racheal Tokede and Mr. Saliu Tajudeen.

    They urged government to deal only with the accredited representatives of the family made up of the chairman and the appointed shareholders who are representatives of  the different branches of the family in the company in respect to all transactions relating to any part of the company’s 201 hectares of land.

    The family explained that it took this decision because it has been having a running battle with the person initially granted power of attorney over mismanagement of proceeds of sale of the company’s land located at Sangotedo area of Lagos and as a result of which they have commenced a legal action to recover their funds.

    The letter written to the Registrar of Titles further stated in part: “We as director and shareholders ( being members of the three branches of the family that make up the three classes of the shareholders) of Oyetubo Joko Tade Estate Resources Limited, write to inform the Bureau as follows; “That Oyetubo Joko-Tade Estate Resources Limited is the bonafide and beneficial owner of the large expanse of land situated at Sangotedo Area of Eti-Osa LGA, Lagos State and covered by a certificate of occupancy registered as 75/75/1996AE”.

  • Lagos Assembly set to criminalise forceful possession of landed property

    Lagos Assembly set to criminalise forceful possession of landed property

    Stakeholders at the one-day public hearing on a bill for a law to prohibit forcible entry and occupation of landed properties in Lagos State have said that the law was timely as it would put an end to the menace of land grabbers “ajagungbales,” who they said have been making lives difficult for the people.

    The stakeholders made this submission  at a public hearing which took place at Lateef Jakande Auditorium, Assembly complex, Alausa to get inputs from members of the public into the law.

    The sponsor of the bill, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, who represented the Speaker, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, at the event, said that the law would cut the wings of land grabbers and legal practitioners, who collude with them to cheat the residents of the state.

    Agunbiade stressed that land is to Lagos what oil is to the people of the Niger Delta.

    “A lot of people have abused and destroyed the value system of the people of Lagos State. We cannot wait anymore. People, such as civil servants, would struggle to buy land, only for them to be unable to use the land.

    “People are given allocation and they would not be allowed to use the land. Some uniform men and professionals even work with some land grabbers to implement illegal judgments,” he said.

    The law provides that no person or group of persons shall use force or unreasonable force to take over any landed property in the state.

    A stakeholder at the event, who is also the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, observed that the fines in the law was too meagre for the kind of business in the sector. Other stakeholders agreed with him, calling for stiffer penalty

     

     

    Oba Shotobi also called for the amendment of some sections of the law, and later told journalists that land grabbers are usually invited by unscrupulous individuals and that some local chiefs collaborate with them.

     

    The Permanent Secretary of Lands Bureau in the state, Mr. Bode Agoro advised that the Governor’s Monitoring Team should be added to Section 12 that is concerned with the issue of arrest.

     

    The Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Martins Ogunleye, in his submission, advised that the state should avoid making retroactive laws and that the Environmental Task Force might not have the capacity to investigate the offences properly.

     

    “We should avoid loopholes in the law and a punishment must be prescribed under Section 8 of the law. Also, any erring lawyer should be reported to the NBA or Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee instead of Council of Legal Practitioner stated in the law,” he said.

     

    The Chairman of the House Committee on Land, Hon. Bayo Oshinowo, in his remarks, promised that some of the observations of the stakeholders would be noted so that the law could achieve its aims and objectives.

     

  • How N5b landed property was converted, by witness

    How N5b landed property was converted, by witness

    A witness, Bukola Asiyannbi, has told a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja of his role in the alleged fraudulent conversion of N5billion landed property, jointly owned by some business partners, into personal use by a former accountant with Chevron Nigeria Limited, Michael Adenuga.

    Adenuga and his company, Covenant Apartment Complex Limited, were arraigned last May by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge of stealing, forgery and use of false documents.

    Led in evidence by EFCC’s counsel, Emmanuel Jackson, Asiyanbi told the court that the he was the solicitor, acted as company secretary and prepared deed of assignment and all other documents used for the transaction.

    Asiyanbi, who was giving evidence at the resumed hearing of matter before Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya, said he was first instructed to register a company, Covenant Global Limited, for parties in the business but it was not successful consequent upon which Covenant Sugarland Property Development Limited was eventually registered and used for the purchase of 22.68 hectares of land.

    He said it was to this company that the partners, including the first defendant, Adenuga, the claimants, Sunday Kehinde Oyeniran, Oye Oyeniran, Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran and Yeye Ogunwusi, all made financial contributions.

    The witness said when he got to Kuramo Property Limited at Ayetoro, Lekki, the owners of the land, the price has gone up to N1.8 billion from N1.4 billion as a result of which they secured a loan from a bank.

    According to him, the partners could not continue with the project as a result of economic meltdown.

    He said some of the subscribers- a man named Ayeni and a couple, Mr and Mrs Okechukwu dragged them to Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Milverton, Ikoyi when they failed to deliver.

    He said one of the claimants; S.K. Oyediran, sold some of his properties to pay off the complainants.

    The witness said sometimes in December 2012, the first defendant instructed him to prepare an offer letter for Housing Builders Limited but there was no document to back it because it was still being processed.

    He said when the new subscribers persisted in having registered documents, he was surprised when the first defendant handed over a deed of conveyance in the name of Covenant Apartment Complex Limited instead of Covenant Sugarland Property Development Limited.

    The witness said he became suspicious and conducted searches in Alausa only to discover that the first defendant, Adenuga, had registered the company, Covenant Apartment Complex Limited to favour him and his wife.

    He said further diligent searches revealed that the co-ordinates of the land had been twisted to enable the first defendant register the new company allegedly used to effect the conversion of the property.

    Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the matter till February 10, next year, for continuation of hearing.