The Edo state government Thursday said it has dislodged land-grabbers along the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road, to make room for the development of a new town project.
This was just as the government stated that the exercise was part of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s renewed campaign against land-grabbing; and aimed at restoring sanity in land administration in the state.
The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr. Chris Osa Nehikhare, who stated this in Benin City said 106 illegal structures were being demolished, adding that “the perimeter of the site is being trenched.”
Nehikare stated that the affected area is a land measuring 1,229 hectares along the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road.
He said, “The land was acquired in 2017 and gazetted for the new town project, but had been encroached upon by land speculators. The area repossessed used to be the Ogba Forest Reserve at the time of the acquisition.”
The commissioner stated further that, “The government had tried severally to engage the four communities involved but they have always rebuffed government.”
