PRE-DEGREE/CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION/SCHOOL FEES
V-C Decries Encroachment On UniPort Land …Vows Legal Action Against Speculators By Ethel Timi-Johnson
- Details
- Published: 05 February 2019
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, has seriously frowned at repeated encroachment on lands belonging to the University by land speculators who feign ignorance of the institution's Master Plan. He said that the activities of the land speculators have seriously altered the University's Master Plan and affected orderly infrastructural development. Professor Lale warned that Management of the University would robustly challenge such land speculators in court as deterrence to others.
The Vice Chancellor particularly condemned the Management of I and G Corporate Ventures Nigeria Limited for subletting land allocated to it for the stated purpose of developing and running of a Motor Park to a third party without reference to the University. “Unilaterally ceding the University's property to Sundry Market, owners of the Market Square brand without reference to the University is a flagrant violation of the original agreement we signed with I and G Corporate Ventures Nigeria Limited. Consequently, the University has resolved to use all legitimate means at her disposal to promptly recover the land from the third party who is unknown to us as a corporate entity,” Professor Lale said.
The Vice Chancellor, who spoke during an unscheduled visit to the project site in front of the University along the busy East/West Road axis, expressed total dissatisfaction with Sundry Market for developing the land without seeking due approval from the University Management. “We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with I and G Ventures to develop the Ultimate Motor Park. It is disheartening to observe that the company went ahead to sublet the parcel of land to a third party without reference to the University Management in the spirit of full disclosure. Consequently, we have ordered immediate stoppage of work at the site and also mobilised security operatives to prevent further encroachment on the land until this unwarranted infraction is resolved to the satisfaction of the University Management,” Professor Lale said.
Briefing Principal Officers and other senior officers who accompanied him to the site, the Vice Chancellor directed the Legal Unit to ensure that the University repossessed full title ownership of the land. “Nobody puts on a structure on a land without due process and the consent of whoever holds the title deed. There is need to initiate prompt legal action against land speculators who erroneously believe that University property is up for grabs,” the Vice-Chancellor remarked.
It would be recalled that sundry land speculators have intensified encroachment on the expanse of land for which the University has Certificate of Occupancy (C of O). The Management recently demolished some structures illegally constructed by land speculators who have formed the habit of encroaching onto surveyed land, including the stretch of land at the entrance into the University. One host community recently encroached into the University's land behind the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences at the University Park.
