What may trigger Third World War in Nigeria – UN official
A United Nations
official said on Monday that degradation and competition over access to land
and water may cause war in Nigeria.
“Land restoration
is about security, reducing clashes between farmers and herdsmen over access to
land and water, which may trigger the Third World War”, Ibrahim Thiaw,
Executive Secretary of UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), told
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ankara, Turkey.
“More lives have
been claimed in conflicts over access to land and water than Boko Haram.
“Every day, you
have more conflicts between people that are competing for access to land and
water.
“The root cause of
the competition is access to natural resources,” the UN official told NAN on
the sidelines of 2019 World Day to Combat Desertification in the Turkish
capital.
World Day to Combat
Desertification is celebrated every year globally on 17 June to promote good
land stewardship for the benefit of present and future generations.
The UNCCD head said
that growing population with growing demand on resources, coupled with Climate
Change and reduction of available land resources, were root causes of most of
the bloody conflicts.
“So, the tipping
point was reached long time ago; and most of the time this is also combined
with bad governance at national levels,” Thiaw said.
He said that land
restoration could not be left in the hands of governments alone, and called for
a review of the land tenure system in order to mobilise private business
investment into the programme.
“This means there
should be some concession for the business sector to participate in land
restoration.
“It means that if a
business restores a land, it gets concession on the land for 50 years or more
so that the land remains restored rather than leave it barren.
“Otherwise, why
would I invest in land restoration if I had no right on that land; if the land
continues to belong to someone else, I won’t invest in it.
“Restoring land
will reduce forced migration and keep people on the ground to generate their
own incomes and live their own lives,” he said.
The UN official
said that forced migration was the worst that could happen to countries where
people were departing from.
“Most times,
countries of destination see it as a problem, but countries they are departing
from have a bigger problem because people involved in forced migration are
educated and a big loss to their national economies,” he said.
Thiaw also said
that although planting of trees was important and symbolic in land restoration,
it was not the only solution to the problem.
“You can plant
billions of trees, but unless you have good sensitisation, the trees will not
grow or they clear off again.”
Land tussle: Group decries
police harassment, seeks FG’s intervention
Sequel to the continuous harassment, arrest
and detention of its workers by the Policemen, a Non-Governmental Organization
(NGO), Faith-Based AIDS Awareness Initiative has cried out to the Federal
Government for justice and intervention, by coming to its aid.
The organisation through its Executive
Director, Pastor Folororunsho Oloruntunde, narrated its ordeal on Thursday in a
chat with journalists in Jos.
Oloruntunde said, “We are tired of police
harassment, arrest and detention over a plot of land that belongs to us and we
are begging the federal government to call the Management of Police Staff
College, Jos, to order.
“We bought the piece of land close to Police
Staff College in Jos from the natives, who testified in court and judgement was
entered in our favor five years ago, yet the police is harassing us, “ The
director lamented.
Oloruntunde disclosed that just last Monday
three of the labourers working at the NGO’s Headquarters site were arrested and
detained at Bukuru Police Division on the order of the Commandant of the Police
Staff College.
He explained that on February 27, 2014,
Justice Christy Dabup of the State High Court VII gave an order to the Police
not to harass, arrest, detain and disturb us from continuing with our
construction.
“But in spite of court order, the same police
arrested, detained our boys and even sued us before a Bukuru Senior Magistrates
Court, which on Oct. 21, 2015, struck out the case for last of merit.
“We have written to the Inspector General of
Police (IGP), the Commandant of Police Staff College and the Plateau State
Commissioner of Police on the issue and attached the court’s verdicts for their
understanding.
“It’s five years now that the police did not
appeal any of the court verdicts, yet they blatantly refused to allow us to
roof the building, “ he pointed out.
In a letter to IGP dated May 13, 2019, the
NGO intimated him of the continuous harassment, arrests and detentions as well
obstruction of its work on its headquarters building by the Police College
management.
“The attached are judgments delivered by
courts of competent jurisdiction restraining further disturbances, but this
morning (May 13, 2019) we are surprised that the police came with a Hilux and
arrested 3 innocent workers at the site.
“This act has been traumatizing and wasting
our hard earned resources since 2013. This complaint is for you to use your
good offices in letting the law prevail and prevent further violation.
“Since 1994, Faith-Based AIDS Awareness
Initiative (FBAAI) has been contributing significantly to peace and health of
Nigerians in most communities, “ the letter read.
Chief Gregory Pwajok, Gwom Kwata (Village
Head) of the area, faulted and condemned the action of the police staff college
authorities.
“My subjects sold the land to the NGO, which
has gone to obtain R of O from the Plateau State Ministry of Land and Survey.
“ If the college claims the contrary, let the
authorities show the world its papers for the land. In fact, no compensation
has been paid by the Federal Government on the entire portion the college is
built upon.
“It’s surprising that they are claiming
ownership of the unfenced land to the college.,” Pwajok lamented.
Reacting to the allegations raised, the
college’s Deputy Commandant, CP Rabiu Yusuf, refused to comment on the issue on
the guise that the matter is before a court of Law.
Yusuf, who spoke through the College’s Public
Relationships Officer (PPRO), Solomon Utuumu I. Nyou, said, “l can’t speak on a
matter that is already in court.”
When asked who sued who in which court in
spite of the earlier two court judgements issued in favor of the NGO, he simply
said, “l don’t know but that’s what l was instructed to tell you, the press.”
Igbesa and Ejila communities in Ado-Odo/Ota
Local Government Areas of Ogun State have called on President Muhammadu Buhari
and the Ogun governor, Ibikunle Amosun, to save them from the Chinese
encroaching on their land.
The community leaders and landowners told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during a visit to their communities that over 485
hectares of farmland had so far been destroyed by the Chinese.
The leaders said that all efforts to caution
the Chinese investors not to exceed the area marked for the Ogun-Guangdong Free
Trade Zone had failed.
Mr Solomon Ajose, the Chairman, Land Owners
Committee of Igbesaland, told NAN that they had no issues with the Chinese
investors until 2017 when they began to seek for more parcels of land.
Ajose said that when the community leaders
approached the Chinese on their actions, they threatened to deal with them,
while referring to the 1977 acquisition.
“This issue started in 2017, when one of us,
Alhaji Kabiru Ajayi, together with Manager of Ogun-Guangdong, Daniel Sheu, came
to say that government had acquired our land and we told them that our land was
not acquired.
“They were making reference to 1977
Acquisition and we told them that the 1977 acquisition did not extend to
Igbesa, it ended at Opic in Agbara area that they should not use that.
“These people are still laying claim to that
1977 acquisition and Igbesa is not mentioned in the gazette. Truly, Ogun State
Government came here through a former Deputy Governor, Alhaji Badru who
negotiated with the community.
“What they community gave them was 250
hectares for the establishment of Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and that record
is currently in Bureau of Lands.”
He also revealed that: “They went further to
a community called Ejila comprising of 12 villages, in that area one of the
sons called Commissioner Akinremi, negotiated with the community who gave them
400 hectares.
“Those were the parcels of land given to the
Ogun State Government and that was what they now gave to Ogun-Guangdong for the
establishment of their company.
“But in 2018, some persons from the community
in connivance with the management of the Ogun-Guangdong, came in with
bulldozers and cleared all our cash crops, food crops and any other thing that
brings in income.
“The communities of Ejila and Igbesa are
majorly farmers, we live on farming, we train our children through school from
proceeds of farming, and our parents were farmers.
“Our only hope of survival has been cut off,
dashed; we are in a bad situation in Igbesa here. Money is not coming in and
you are not ready to go into robbery and other crimes,” Ajose said.
He said that though the community was not
against the government of Ogun State acquiring lands for public ventures, but
that it should be done the right way and that the communities should be
shareholders in such business ventures.
According to him, “The 1,210 hectares the
Chinese are encroaching into was not given to them. So far, no deliberations,
consultations or compensation has been paid to the real land owners and we are
not requesting for their compensation.
“Let them remain in the one given to them.
Whereas, the land given to Ogun-Guangdong is still lying fallow at Ejila but
they are here to take what we use for farming.
“Leave our 485 hectares of land for farming
to us. We appeal to President Buhari and Ogun government to caution these
Chinese people because they are using policemen to harass us,’’ he said.
Mr Adebayo Akinola, a Food Technologist, who
had 21 acres of land and 10 acres of cassava plantation already destroyed by
the Chinese, said that it was worth over N10 million.
Expressing his displeasure, Akinola told NAN
that the Chinese approached him with a token of less than N50,000 but he
declined only to be told that there was bulldozers on the land, destroying his
cassava.
“We procured 21 acres sometime in 1990 in
order to have an extension of a school where I am the administrator. In 2011,
the family that sold the land to us started bringing up issues when the Chinese
came and they wanted land.
“We went to court and the judgment was in our
favour, that the land belonged to us. Then in 2016, the Chinese approached us
that they wanted to buy the land for hotels and create a roads from their
factory to the main road, we declined that we do not want to sell.
“Only for us to hear in 2018 that they said
they are the owners of the land. Currently, they have pulled down the fence. I
had 10 acres of land where I planted cassava worth about N15 million. Now the
land has been cleared.
“We have court judgment on this land. I am
still trying to get over the loss because we have put in so much and this is a
threat to food sufficiency in the country. It is a threat to climate change
too, how can you clear all the forest in this area.”
He said: “We are pleading to Buhari to
retrieve our land from these Chinese people. We have not approached government
because we bought the land from a family and the families have said that they
have contacted the government.
“But government has yet to give them any
positive answer. When we reported the case to the Igbesa Police Division, they
said that we should not fight because the case was beyond them,’’ Akinola said.
He said that his farm workers were now out of
jobs and that he was confused as to how to care for them.
Mrs Gbonke Dalamu, a graduate of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, explained that she was jobless before family members
contributed money for her to set up a block company in the area.
Dalamu said: “Some years ago, my family
members contributed money for me because there was no job after I graduated to
start a small business, so my husband and I came here to sell cement and mould
blocks.
“In February 2018, the Chinese people came
here and said that they wanted to see my husband after the meeting, they told
my husband that they have something to give him for him to forfeit the land and
my husband said no, that he cannot sell his rights or Nigeria to China.
“So, they requested to have another
discussion and my husband told them to come to his house in Lagos then my
husband called the other land owners he could reach to be present at the
meeting also.
“There was one Mr Kabiru that represented the
Chinese and he was angry with my husband that he wanted to see only my husband,
why did he call others and my husband said whatever you have to say you should
say it in front of everyone.
“Kabiru left without saying anything. Only
for my husband to get threat messages from one Mr Daniel, who we believe is the
head of the Guangdong firm here.
“In the text, he said, since you have refused
to cooperate, it is in your eyes that we will demolish everything in your land.
Only for us to get a call that the Chinese had started to fence the whole area
and they destroyed all we had on the land,’’ she said.
Another land owner identified as Brother
Seun, who had a poultry farm in the affected area, only came after being called
to see bulldozers demolishing his fence and gate as Correspondents of NAN went
round the area.
A retired Headmistress, Mrs Kudirat Awoleye,
told NAN correspondents that her coconut, Kolanuts, palm-trees and cocoa
plantations which she inherited from her parents had been destroyed.
Awoleye said that when she tried to stop
them, she was whisked away by policemen and efforts were made by the community
leaders to release her.
“For now, I do not have anything to leave for
my children any more. I have nothing, I am only retired, what can I do apart
from farming,’’ she said.
When NAN visited the community which had a
bad access road with repairs going on in some areas, it was calm with no major
economic activities noticed.
Also, it was observed that in the Ejila area,
the Chinese investors had dug a motte to cut off residents from their lands and
properties, but the owners of the land had filled a part of the motte to enable
residents to access their villages.
When NAN also visited the Ogun-Guangdong Free
Trade Zone office, the Chinese investors refused its correspondents entry into
their premises.
A Police officer at the premises, called one
Mr Sebastian, was said to be acting for Mr Daniel Sheu, the company’s manager
who was said to be out of town.
Sebastian asked him to see him and when the
inspector returned, he said Sebastian requested that NAN should write a letter
which would be considered before they would grant a permission.
