Industry operators under the aegis of the Mining Entrepreneurship Stakeholders have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the land dispute between the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and the owners of a quarry company, Nino Corporation Ltd.
The NCoS reportedly took over the land to build a new multi-billion naira correctional facility in Karsh in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In a reaction to the dispute between the two organisations, Alhaji Aminu Sani Inuwa, on behalf of the Mining Entrepreneurship Stakeholders, appealed to the federal government to compensate the quarry owners to enable them relocate their equipment to a proposed new site for the firm.
He said the company needs the compensation because some of the heavy-duty equipment would be damaged while removing and transporting them to the site the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) reportedly plans to allocate the company.
Inuwa told newsmen in Abuja that “some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointees are sabotaging his economic, investment and ease of doing business policies.”
He asked, “How can you invade the business premises of a company that is doing its operations legally and paying royalties and tax to the government and forcefully and illegally construct a correctional facility without compensation? It is not fair.
“Nino Corporation Ltd is an indigenous company and should be encouraged but instead, some government officials prefer to give better treatment to foreign companies to the detriment of local companies. All the Chinese quarry sites are operating perfectly well in the country without any disruption or official harassment. Why should a government agency target an indigenous company and cripple its operations and eventually kill it?
“We believe that the NCoS was fully funded to acquire a good land to build a brand new correctional facility but instead of legally acquiring its own land, it chose to use the government power to illegally take over a company’s land.
“As stakeholders in the mining sector, we are calling on the attention of Mr. President to urgently intervene in this matter. We demand justice and full compensation for Nino Corporation Ltd”, he said.
When LEADERSHIP contacted the NCoS national public relations officer, Umar Danlami Abubakar, he said, “The land in question does not belong to the claimant, it is just that the Nasarawa State government issued him license to carry out quarry activities in the area while AGIS allocated the land with all the necessary documents to the Service.”
But a senior officer of NCoS who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said, “The company will leave the new correctional facility. “The chairman of the quarry company told the minister of interior when the minister visited the place on an inspection tour that he was waiting for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to get him another site so he could relocate. I think that is what he is waiting for,” he said.
The new correctional facility is located in a remote community between Karu local government area in Nasarawa State and Karshi area within Abuja Municipal Council Area of Abuja.
The company which said it had been ordered to vacate the property demanded compensation and time to relocate to another site.
The management said their overtures had been snubbed by the NCoS authorities.
Information made available to journalists, showed that disputed land is a solid mineral area under the control of the federal government, which allocated the quarry site to Nino Corporation Ltd through the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Mineral Development.
The NCoS management was initially supported by the Federal Capital Territory Development Administration (FCDA) over the issue and had issued a vacation notice to the firm.
However, FCTA later found out that it acted in error as Nino Corporation Ltd argument was in line with Section 1 of the Land Use Act of 1978, Sections 44 (3) of the 1999 Construction and Section 1 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007.
Asked by newsmen whether the company had been contacted by either the Ministry of Interior or NCoS for any negotiation, chairman and chief executive officer of Nino Corporation Ltd, Mr. Nino Abokhai, said his request to have a meeting with the government officials had not been granted.
He said NCoS controller-general (CG), Mr. Haliru Nababa, was said to have directed his aide, Lawal Jangebe, to arrange an appointment with the company chairman to discuss the issues.
However, when the NCoS was contacted, Lawal Jangebe, was alleged to have responded that his principal, Mr. Haliru Nababa, had not yet approved the request of the company’s chairman to have an appointment for the two parties to discuss the request for compensation by the firm.
Abokhai said since the takeover of the land, “the operation and fortunes of the company have been crippled as a result of the trespass.
“This company was doing very well and we had about 70 employees and a big market has been adversely affected. The company is disposed to moving to another location but we need compensation to enable us to do so.
“We need justice and fairness because my business is crumbling. The NCoS invaded my business premises and scattered my huge investments,” he said.
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