Lagos  State Government moved to address a nagging problem in the state recently with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s signing into law of the Lagos State Properties Protection Bill on August 15. By this law, land grabbers known as Omo onile and their cohorts who are in the habit of forcefully entering and illegally occupying landed property in the state, should now be kept in check.

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This law is long overdue, and many Lagosians are heaving a sigh of relief that it is here at last. The ubiquitous Omo onile have constituted themselves into a menace to people who have anything to do with landed property in the state and it is good that the state government is set to cut them to size.
We call on government to faithfully enforce the provisions of this law. It should not be handled like the Lagos Tenancy Law of 2011 enacted by the immediate past administration in the state. Up till now, there has hardly been any reported case of prosecution and conviction of offenders under the law, even though its provisions are widely infringed on.
It is this situation that gives the wrong impression about government’s real intentions and encourages the Omo onile and other social miscreants to continue oppressing owners, buyers and sellers of landed property in the state. Land grabbing and speculation has become a cultural thing with deep roots, spreading across diverse interest groups.
If the new law is to enjoy the much-needed cooperation for its successful implementation, there must be adequate sensitisation and stakeholders’ buy-in. There must be a three-way meeting point between government, investors and the land grabbers through the traditional channels. They all need to be enlightened on the benefits of the law to all the people involved and the long-term wellbeing of the state.
Whereas, the Land Use Act (1978) specifically vests all lands in the states in the respective state governments, in practice, this has hardly been the case. Families, lineages and powerful individuals often lay claim to landed properties and often use unorthodox means to advance their interests. It is this negative tendency that the law is out to correct.
Government too, it must be noted, has unwittingly helped the perpetuation of the Omo onile phenomenon through its many agencies which, instead of facilitating land acquisition and development, tend to stand in the way of genuine applicants who want to obtain certificates of occupancy (C of O), through delays and other sharp practices..
The state authorities, as part of the enabling environment for the operation of the new law, must correct this and other lapses that may dispose land users to the patronage of the traditional sources and the inevitable Omo onile.
The activities of these land grabbers have been known to drive away genuine investors who are not used to their devious methods, which include violence and threats to life. This new law, if well implemented, will improve the investment climate and ease of doing business in the state. At a time when government revenue from oil is dwindling, the coming into effect of this law cannot be over emphasised.
As part of the new law, a task force shall be established to enforce it. This is welcome and we expect the new enforcement unit to work with the already existing law enforcement agencies to ensure strict compliance. Government can also explore the option of recruiting amenable persons in the present Omo onile class into the new task force. There may be wisdom in this as they already know the terrain and its fault lines.
This could result in a win-win situation for all the stakeholders in the Lagos landed property enterprise. The threat of the Omo onile in Lagos is not to be taken lightly, given the deeply entrenched tradition and the failure of successive governments to address the problem. We urge the Ambode government to faithfully enforce this law to end the culture of impunity of the Omo onile on land matters in the state.
Ultimately, the success of the new law will depend on sustained public enlightenment and engagement of all relevant stakeholders. Government must consider all possible avenues of resistance to the new law and disabuse the minds of suspicious stakeholders of its genuine intentions and their long-term benefits.
If Lagos is to achieve its goal of becoming a megacity, laws such as the recently signed landed property law are needed and have to be strictly enforced.