Gombe State governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has barred local government chairmen in the state from issuing land titles in areas designated by the state government as urban areas within the local government areas.
Executive chairman of the Gombe State Urban Planning and Development Authority (GOSUPDA), Samanja Bappayo Maudo, announced this order on Tuesday during a press conference.
He said the decision followed a new executive order issued in the state, which aims to expand the state’s urban zone.
According to him, the order designates areas within 20 kilometers of Gombe local government area headquarters and 15 kilometers of the remaining local government areas as urban areas.
Maudo added that as a result, only the state government has the authority to allocate or use land within the designated areas, revealing that the local government chairmen and district heads were no longer permitted to issue rights of occupancy, except with explicit approval from the state government.
“In the exercise of the powers conferred upon his Excellency by section 3 of Land Use Act of 1978 and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, He, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, governor of Gombe State hereby makes the following orders:
“One, all the land within 20 kilometres radius of Gombe local government council area is hereby designated as urban area. Two, all local government councils headquarters in this state and all the land within 15 kilometres radius of the local government headquarters specified, are hereby designated also as urban areas.
“So, from the commencement of this order, it shall not be lawful for any local government council to grant any right of occupancy to any person over any undeveloped land specified in sections two and three of this order.
“No local government chairman or anybody is allowed to allocate or to take over or to say this particular land belongs to this particular local government,” he stated.
Clarifying further, the Director General of Gombe State Geographic Information System (GOGIS), Kabiru Usman Hassan, said the policy was meant to expand the urban areas of the state and to extend development projects to the areas.
He lamented that due to indiscriminate land allocations, whenever government wanted to execute projects, it pays compensation for lands and properties, but that with the designation, it will enable government to execute projects without hitches.
