Battle over ownership of Villa Estate sitting on 230 plots of lands acquired by health workers from Ozalla Abor community in 2015 has finally come to a positive end as the Enugu State Government reverses the revocation of the lands by immediate past Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development.
According to the Land Use Act, revocation of lands must be with the consent of the State Governor but Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor denied knowledge or ever consenting to its revocation as in the case of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Lands.
Ugwuanyi while addressing the health workers who visited him on Friday at the Government House, Enugu, on the revocation of their land by the former Commissioner expressed dismay at such fragrant abuse of power.
He reiterated that he never consented to it, directing the health workers to liaise with the present Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh for necessary action; Ugwuanyi also promised to restore every land in the state taken from people illegally.
In his speech, the present Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh revealed that the revocation was wrong; he stated, “Looking through the processes in the files, I can confirm that Villa Estate exists and those plots of lands are owned by these health workers.”
Aroh further confessed that on taking over from the immediate past Commissioner, no document shows the Governor’s consent to the incessant revocations of land as witnessed in the state recently.
Earlier, the State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade Bennett Asogwa, who led the health workers to the Government House explained the trauma and ugly experience they had with the immediate past Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development.
Comrade Asogwa however expressed optimism of a favorable intervention of the State Governor in the battle over their land as he had done in several cases brought to his knowledge; rehabilitation of the Primary Healthcare Centres and the Colliery Hospital, Enugu (now Enugu State Infectious Disease Isolation and Treatment Centre), implementation of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) amongst others.
“You changed the face of workers for good. When the minimum wage was approved at the federal level, you called us to a meeting and agreed to implement it seamlessly,” Comrade Asogwa said.
Recall that Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration recently restored Plot No. P/23CA Independence Layout, Enugu, to the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which was purportedly revoked by the immediate past Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development without the governor’s approval pursuant to the Land Use Act.
- Fatal Accident Claims Lives Along Enugu-Opi-Nsukka Road - May 1, 2024
- Nimbo Attack: Enugu Govt. Offers Scholarship, Employment To Victims’ Dependents - April 30, 2024
- Enugu Govt. Mourns With Senator Ayogu Eze’s Family - April 29, 2024
