Govt Officials, Political Leaders Hijack Low Income Houses

The housing estates built for low income earners by the Bayelsa State government at Anyama in Southern Ijaw local government area and Okaka in Yenagoa, the state capital, have been allegedly hijacked by some government officials and political leaders in the state.

The Anyama Low Income Estate Phase 1, which was built by the former governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, was hurriedly commissioned while uncompleted before he left office on February 12, 2020, without internal roads, toilet facilities, electricity and security amongst others.

The Anyama estate which comprises 42 Units of 84 flats on 200 hectares of land has since been abandoned by the Douye Diri-led administration since he took over office as the governor of the state.
During an investigative tour carried out by members of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Thursday as part of its corporate social responsibility, they visited the estates along Yenagoa/Oporoma road, Anyama in Southern Ijaw LGA and Okaka Phase 2 estate in the heart of Yenagoa.

It was observed that the estates were being inhabited by illegal occupants while some of them said they rented the place from government officials and politicians who claimed to be the landlords.
It was further revealed that another government official from the state Ministry of Housing is also collecting rent from some of the occupants.

A resident of the Ayama Housing Estate, Chief Daniel Oputu, who spoke to members of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel, said that he rented his three-bedroom apartment from one Clement Angalabiri at N200,000 annually.

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“I’m not one of those illegal occupants. I am the chairman of this estate but let’s say about 50 percent of the occupants are illegal tenants because one man who calls himself the CLO illegally rented these houses to them and some persons said that he is from the Ministry of Housing. His name is John Amakiri”, he said.

Oputu stated that over 95 percent of occupants in the estate do not have toilets.
According to him, the resident face so many problems in the estate like absence of toilet facilities, electricity, road network and potable water, amongst others.

“As I’m here, I’m trying to arrange toilet for myself at the back of the flat. When I came here, I paid directly to the landlord and I discovered that there is no toilet, no staircase. When I complained to him he said I should do it, and I did everything, including the wiring of the place.
“We made inquiries and we were told that these houses are allocated to them by the government through the Ministry of Housing. For some of the apartments, two landlords are even laying claim to them. Some tenants don’t even know who their landlord is.

“If you want to take a house here and you go to one John Amakiri at the ministry of housing, he will tell you to pay to him and he will come and allocate the place, and you can stay without you seeing your landlord for the next three years.

“I want the government to come and assist us by putting the toilet facilities, and connecting light (electricity) to the estate. We don’t have water except for two or three boreholes that are privately owned. Everyday we spend not less than N500 to fetch water with labour. We lack security. Everybody is a security officer here in the night”, he said.

At Okaka Housing Estate, a female trader named Madam Joy Onbu said that she came to the estate through one Philip who claimed that the brother known as Akpos was the contractor of the place.
She said, “I came here through Philip and he didn’t collect any money from me. When I first came, I gave the person staying in my present apartment N70,000 and since that time I have not paid anything. I also gave Philip N20,000.

“I have been here for four years now and I have not been paying anything because he is not disturbing anybody but now, he said that everybody will pay N100,000 because people are subletting the house to other people. We have steady NEPA light but we did the toilets by ourselves.”

When contacted on phone in disguise of renting a place at the Anyama Low Income Estate, Mr. John Amakiri agreed to give out a flat at the cost of N120,000 per annum.
Amakiri said the houses had been allocated to former commissioners, members of House of Assembly and other top government officials. He claimed to be acting on behalf of the Ministry of Housing in the state.