Land grabbers in trouble as Ondo Assembly passes anti-land grabbing bill

Land grabbers in trouble as Ondo Assembly passes anti-land grabbing bill

By Awodeyi Elizabeth

Ondo State House of Assembly has passed into law, a bill, to prohibit forceful entry and illegal occupation of landed property, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed property in the State.

The self sponsored bill by the Lawmaker representing Ondo West Constituency 1, Honourable Moyinolorun Ogunwumiju
was passed on Tuesday at a plenary presided over by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olamide Oladiji after scaling through the third reading.

The house had earlier held a public hearing on the bill where stakeholders threw their weight behind the bill.

The self sponsored bill by Honourable Ogunwumiju who is the Parliamentary Secretary of the House will enhance the smooth running of land administration, protect land owners , attract investors and engender peace and development in the State.

Ogunwumiju appreciated other lawmakers for the successful passage of the bill. “We are expecting that this bill will be signed into law by the Governor before the end of this month, which means that by the end of this year, the bill will take effect”.

He added that the stakeholders of the bill are the real estate agents, the landowners, the lawyers, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Lands among others.

“They are the ones who are going to be majorly participating in the execution of this bill. In terms of the implementation of the bill, part of the bill in section 15 is the establishment of a tax force.

“This tax force will be the critical player to ensure that each land issue across the state is tackled in relation and in adherence to this bill. The tax force, as stated in section 15, section 2, is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Justice, community leaders and also representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and the Internal Revenue Service. These representatives from different ministries are going to be on the tax force and this tax force will be equipped with all the wherewithal to ensure that they pursue all the sections under this law as passed by the House of Assembly.

Ogunwumiju further explained that with the passage of the anti-land grabbing bill, land grabbers are now seen as threat to property acquisition, stressing that any culprit caught would be sent to 10 years imprisonment and 21 years for people who sells family land without the family head knowing about it, or the family secretary.

Earlier, the report of the Committee on lands and Housing was presented to the house at the plenary by its Chairman , Honourable Abiola Oladapo.

After the Speaker subjected the report to critical debate at the plenary and scaling through the third reading, it was unanimously adopted for passage through a voice vote.