•Says 70 percent of heritage site taken over by land-grabbers

The Governor Monday Okpebholo-led administration in Edo State on Thursday disclosed that 70 percent of the Benin Moat, has been taken over by land-grabbers in the state, noting it is worrisome that such an ancient monument and heritage site recognised by UNESCO could be encroached.

He also said Edo government has uncovered and sealed a hotel built inside a primary school in Esan West Local Government Area of the state

The Edo State Coordinator for the Protection of Government Property, (PGP), Mr. Eugene Okolosie, who disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Benin City however, disclosed that over 2,000 plots of land encroached upon have also been recovered from land-grabbers in the state.

He noted that so far over 150,000 houses in the state are built on government land and appealed to those who want to acquire landed property to clear from Edo Geographic Information Service (Edo GIS) to avoid fallen victims to criminal activities of land grabbers and speculators.

His words: “A lot of government property have been encroached upon. Seventy percent of our moat, a monument and heritage site, have been taken over and the most affected is our public schools. In Ambrose Alli University (AAU), alone we have recovered plots of land from land-grabbers.

“The community came to inform us that land-grabbers forged their signatures and we moved into action and recovered about 90 percent of the land back including lands belonging to schools.

“For example, in Ujuele, Primary School, they built a brothel inside a school and we have sealed the brothel and some of these properties will be converted and we are presently discussing with the governor on the matter.

“In Iyoba, the community on their own shared the school into two parts and sold half of the school to individuals. You can imagine a food silo was sold, that again investigation is underway and those suspected to be involved have been invited.

Okolosie revealed the agency has received over 3,000 petitions from communities regarding illegal acquisition of government property in the last two months and vowed to recover such properties.

He commended Governor Okpeholo for the provision of legal counsels for the agency to ensure smooth prosecution of offenders.