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Although
government is constitutionally empowered to hold land in trust for the
people, it also has to allocate them to buyers, Anambra State
commissioner for lands, survey and urban planning, Peter Afuba, said on
Wednesday.

Mr. Afuba who was
reacting to allegations of indiscriminate sale of lands in parts of the
state, by a civil society group, Intersociety, said in a statement made
through the director, ministry of lands, Chris Arukwe, that government
allocated the lands to deserving organisations and people who met its
requirements.

According to him,
there were two categories of land; state land and non-state land. In
state land, he said, government has direct control while it exercised
minimal control on non-state land. “We merely have a supervisory role
in non-state land over the type of development that takes place there,”
he said.

Intersociety had
petitioned the lands ministry over what it termed indiscriminate sale
of lands particularly in the Onitsha area where it alleged that land
was sold to churches and individuals in a manner that ‘rubbished’ the
hard earned reputation of the state governor.

“Today, it may be
correct to say that the feat recorded or achieved by Peter Obi’s
administration in the area of land management and town planning is
being lost,” it alleged, stating that “the indiscriminate sale and
conversion of the government lands in the state especially in Onitsha
zone appear to be on the increase.”

Buying cemeteries

According to Emeka
Umeagbalasi, chairman of the group, “One of such criminal sales is the
Awada Cemetery, which used to have over 30 plots of land. It is
situated on Oraifite Street. Presently, there are over 25 residential
buildings, in addition to Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal Churches
as well as other structures meant for commercial purposes.

There are less than
two plots of land now left as public cemetery, and some land
speculators are still fighting tooth and nail to “buy” same. There is
no public or government cemetery in Onitsha zone presently.”

He said their
recent finding showed that between 2008 and 2010, over sixty plots of
land belonging to government, hitherto occupied by debris and those he
called tenant-artisans, had been sold dubiously to certain wealthy
individuals and churches leading to the current absence of any
government designated refuse dumping site at the heart of Onitsha.

The group is thus
demanding that all public land illegally sold or converted should be
recovered and government officials responsible for such criminal
conducts investigated and prosecuted.

Responding the
allegations, Mr. Arukwe maintained that most of the references made in
the petition by Inetrsociety were on issues that happened many years
ago and that those places were not government lands.

“They’re not government lands and government is not involved in what’s happening there.”