Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has reduced by 67 per cent the charges to be paid for the repurchase of acquired land at the government owned university in Ojo.
He slashed the charges from N3.9million to N1.2million because of the “state of the economy”.
At a stakeholders’ meeting yesterday, Ambode, represented by his deputy, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, said each plot was valued at N3.9 million for regularisation, titles and certificate of Occupancy (CofO).
The valuation was arrived at after series of meetings with the affected landlords through their Community Development Associations (CDAs), Office of the Surveyor-General, Lands Bureau, Lands Regularisation and other government agencies.
Ambode said he had also granted the landlords’ two other demands.
The demands are: they no longer wish to be tenants to the Lagos State University (LASU), but to the government; and an end to the annual payments they make to LASU while the process for payment by the landlords should be considerate and flexible.
The governor said no building would be demolished for contravention except houses built inside LASU compound. No government, he said, would allow private residential homes within an academic environment.
He said there would be a deadline for payment, warning the landlords from trying to bribe their way through.
The government, he said, had created a seamless payment process, which does not involve agents.
Responding on behalf of the landlords, Baale of Igbo Elerin Chief Taofeek Oseni praised Ambode for his consideration.
He said his people had thought they would be forced to sell their properties when the government rolled out the charges.
Oseni pleaded for further reduction for those with half plots of land. (The Nation)
