Forty Villages Receive Certificates of Excision in Lagos

May 12, 2015 – The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has presented Certificates of Occupancy to representatives of 40 excised villages across the state.

The villages and communities approved for excision are Okun Alani village with 15 hectares, Okun Oje 22 hectares and Offiran village- 20 hectares,  Kusanu village-5 hectares, Osoroko village-70 hectares, Igbojiya- 20 hectares, Itarogbo-10 hectares, Olorunshogo-10 hectares, Alagbon Metta-15 hectares, Atorishe Erinkonko-18 hectares, Onishago-13 hectares, Ashimi-13 hectares and Onikoko-13 hectares.

Igbokoko has 13 hectares, Abule-Lewu-13 hectares, Olamilehin13 hectares, Asiribo-13 hectares, Fatile-13 hectares, Fowosheje-5 hectares, Onile-Egun -13 hectares, Igborokodo-13 hectares, Bada -10 hectares, Mawejo-50 hectares,Owode-Ijani-12 hectares, Ilapagboro-13 hectares, Elegi-13 hectares,Alakoriko-13 hectares, Onigo-13 hectares, Sonyinbo-15 hectares, Okesuna/Lesso-28.96 hectares and Egan-Alata-13 hectares all in Ibeju-Lekki and  Ifedele Agunbiade village in Eti-Osa- 10 hectares.

Others are Oreki Village in Ibeju Lekki with 20 hectares, Ijoyi village in Eti-Osa with 40 hectares, Ganyinbo village in Badagry with 60 hectares, Ilosioye in Ikorodu with 5 hectares, Bolorunpelu/Onigbedu village in Ibeju- Lekki with 35 hectares and Olakitan village in Alimosho with 27 hectares.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fashola said the present administration is determined to bring such matters to a close as far as it relates to payment of compensation.

Fashola, who explained that there may still be the need for excision where compensation issues have not been fully resolved added, however, that it would be left for the government to decide, maintaining that for the purpose of compensation, the time had come to close excision.

“This compensation issue has taken a while, so it is important for all of us to understand ourselves. What you should have received was maybe money for your land when the acquisition took place. Government overtime, more than 30, 40 years ago decided that instead of giving you money which is not enough, we would give you some land as compensation. That is the story of excision”, he added.

He explained that one of the things which the administration was trying to achieve by the process  is to put a stop to the practice whereby some people, after collecting excision, come back to say it was not enough or  jumped unto government land.

“So that is the reason why we are doing this in the open. That is the reason why we have put some conditions down such as the fact that you cannot collect excision or compensation by way of excision and then come back and say you want more. Let us be clear”, he emphasized.

He maintained that following this haphazard manner of planning and development of structures, many people built along the drainage lines and that the present administration is committed to solving the problem once and for all.

He said this explains why the Government is now insisting that for anyone to even get the Certificate of Occupancy after the survey and every other requirement; they must give us a layout plan.

“Let us layout the road, we want to know where the drainage is so that you don’t sell road and you think you have sold land for people to build on because with that you have created a slum. The land there does not have a value”, he said.

He explained that there is no difference between the land in excision and the land in Ikoyi and Government Reserved Area, but that the difference is that when the Europeans were developing Ikoyi, they separated roads from drainage and that is what increased the land value of the area, stating that it explains the mindset of the administration.

“When you get the land, take out first, the space for the road because all of us are going to use the roads, but what do we usually do? We first take the land that should be used to build road and build houses, then we start looking for where to build the roads.

“That is why our roads is never straight, that is why when we have to do roads, we start demolishing houses but if we take out enough land for the roads which everybody is going to use on the layout and ensure that nobody builds there, we would all live well in that community”, he noted.

Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola stated that since the signing of a 2009 Executive Order by the Governor spelling out necessary steps in the processing of Excisions by applicants, hundreds of applications on excision have been forwarded to the Technical committee on Excision from all the five divisions.

He said to date, the committee has inspected 414 community and family lands in all divisions of the state and that the Governor has approved 230 applications forwarded to him for his approval.

Muri-Okunola explained that the approvals came in three batches of 76, 100 and the third batch of 54 approved a couple of weeks ago, explaining that the 40 communities and families whose certificates of Occupancy are being presented are those who have complied with the procedure requisite before the issuance of the C of O.

“Permit me to also use this medium to warn land speculators of the danger of dealing in excised land approved in principle, where such land do not have registered Certificate of Occupancy; such people are hereby warned that an excision cannot be said to be granted until the endorsement of Certificate of Occupancy by the Governor with such certificates duly registered in the register of excisions at the Land Registry of the State”, he added.