LASG Establishes Special Task Force against Land Grabbing

•  Appoints AG as the taskforce helmsmen

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The Lagos State Government on Monday inaugurated a five-man Special Task Force to check the illegal activities of land grabbers which, it said, had assumed a dangerous dimension in the state.

The state government added that it would henceforth fully enforce sections 52 and 53 of the State Criminal Law prescribing a jail term of two years for any person who forcibly enters or takes possession of land in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace.

The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, inaugurated the special task force at the state secretariat, Alausa, noting that the decision was necessary to arrest the growing trend of land grabbing.

At the inauguration, Kazeem said the move was necessary to nip the act of dispossessing legitimate land-owners of their properties in the bud. Noting that land-grabbers stifle commercial activities, he said government’s decision to establish the task force would protect investors and help maintain law and order.

He said the terms of reference of the special taskforce was to reduce “to a barest minimum the activities of persons or corporate entities who used force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent any person or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property acquired through state government or private organisation as well as co-ordinate the efforts of the various agencies of government charged with enforcing the state government rights over land in the state.”

Kazeem said the task force would work with all security agencies “to ensure enforcement of state government and private property rights in Lagos State. In recent years, land grabbers have caused havoc and unrest in different parts of the state by dispossessing legitimate land-owners of their properties, thereby stifling commercial activities in the state.”

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