The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday set up a 10-man ad hoc committee to investigate land survey activities, following cases of land disputes in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee was set up following a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Mr Sanai Agunbiade, during the plenary session.

Mr Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the House, who reeled out members of the committee, said that it would be headed by Mr Abiodun Tobun, representing Epe Constituency I in the assembly.

Obasa listed members of the committee to include: Mr Victor Akande (Ojo I); Mr Noheem Adams (Eti-Osa I); Mr Rasheed Makinde (Ifako-Ijaiye II); Mr Tunde Braimoh (Kosofe II); Mr Abdul-Sobur Olawale (Mushin II); Mr Fatai Oluwa (Ajeromi-Ifelodun II), among others.

The speaker said the committee would advises the house on how to prevent constant crisis in land matters arising from issues involving surveying in the state.

The speaker said the committee would bring the state Survey Law to emerging realities through review.

Earlier, Agunbiade told the House that it was important to curb illegal activities of surveyors in the state.

He said: “The state has the smallest land in the country, yet the ownership and control of land usually leads to crisis; the level of impunity is becoming so high based on the activities of some surveyors in the state.

“We have laws that regulate the activities of surveyors in the state.

“Section 16 (1) of the state’s survey law gives the house powers to control the activities of surveyors in the state.”

The majority leader added that lack of disciplinary committee on survey matter, as provided by the law, had led to a lot of issues in the survey.

“This house has dealt with some crises on issues concerning lands, and these arose from improper information in the survey plan.

“We have seen cases where surveyors collected money from people and say the land is not under acquisition, whereas it is under acquisition.

“They give wrong information to land owners and cause disputes among people.

“Many people who own land lose their land due to misinformation in the area of survey.

“That was why we searched for the law so that this could be corrected. The House is concerned with the Land Protection Bill,” Agunbiade added.

Supporting the motion, Makinde said that the issue of land was very important, as it had been a recurrent issue in the state.

Makinde said that Office of the state Surveyor-General had not been doing digital survey, pointing out that some of the instruments they were using for survey in the state were obsolete.

He said: “Incompetence of the technicians is another issue. The surveyors use intuitions to determine the land that is free. We need to overhaul the office of the Surveyor-General.

“Lagos State is fast developing, yet we are having issues of wrong survey in spite of the fact that no land is vacant now. The office of Surveyor-General needs to be purged and we need to visit the office.”

The House Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Olumuyiwa Jimoh (Apapa II), said that the Surveyor Registration Council should be up and doing in disciplining their erring members.

Also, Mr Rotimi Olowo (Somolu I), said that the state had been having problem with the allocation of lands and that there was no good record keeping in the office of the Surveyor-General of the state. (NAN)

_AUG 26, 2019 @19:56 GMT |