The government of Nigeria has warned land grabbers and illegal miners in Oyo State, describing their operations as dangerous.
Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State gave the warning during an interactive meeting he held with traditional rulers, heads of security agencies and local government chairmen. The meeting was held at the House of Chiefs, State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
The governor said that it was unlawful for any individual or group to forcefully take over landed property or engage in illegal mining operations. He vowed that his government would nip the situation in the bud by dealing decisively with those found culpable in such acts.
Challenge
“We have identified issues of land grabbing and illegal mining as major challenges; I have also interacted with the people, including the traditional institution. From our analysis, the land grabbers are working mostly with some traditional rulers,” he said.
“While we try to protect the interest of everybody, I want to seriously warn that we are not going to allow the situation in other places to occur here in Oyo State. This is because we have the chance and opportunity to deal decisively with those troublemakers before it becomes a trend here. We have to address some of these issues and nip them in the bud right now and I want to solicit for the support of our traditional institution on this,” he added.
The governor called for more collaboration among security agencies, government and the traditional institution in the state, to improve the security situation. He noted that the collaboration among the stateholders so far had brought peace to the state, thereby making it attractive to investors and others.
