By Tony Edike
ENUGU—SOME residents of airport hillview layout in Enugu, whose land was recently acquired by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, and Enugu State government for the expansion of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, have condemned the government’s decision to move into the land without first paying compensation to the affected owners of the land.

The said land was acquired by FAAN and the state government recently to aid ongoing expansion of the airport’s runway without notifying the land owners of the government’s intention.  The land owners added that there had been no concrete arrangement regarding payment of compensation.

The land owners and residents of the layout, who briefed reporters on the development in Enugu yesterday, alleged that the government did not observe due process in acquiring the land, adding that even though it was done for the purpose of development, the land owners should not be subjected to untold hardship.

Secretary of the Airport Hillview Layout and Neighbourhood Watch and Environs Association, Barrister Justus Ugwu, said the affected land owners and residents were not against the expansion of the airport which would enhance development in the South East, but that they were not comfortable with the style adopted by the government in acquiring the land.

He said that the forceful acquisition of the said land and demolition of existing properties without giving the owners time to make alternative arrangement for accommodation elsewhere, had made life unbearable for them, just as it had exposed the alleged insensitivity of the government to the plights of the citizenry.

Ugwu said: “It is true that Igbos have been clamouring for an international airport in the South-East geo-political  zone but the government must not make life unbearable for us because of the airport. We were saddened by the fact that Enugu State Ministry of Lands moved into the said land and properties without notifying the land/property owners or following due process.”

Insisting that the entire process of acquiring the layout was fraught with irregularities, the aggrieved residents said they were only informed last week through a radio announcement of the demolition that was expected to commence in a few days.

“Yes, we know that government can acquire a property in overriding public interest, but there is no way our property can be taken away from us without adequately informing or providing any genuine means of compensation for us,”  Ugwu declared, adding that “apart from the fact that due process was not observed, we are not comfortable with the compensation papers FAAN and Enugu State Ministry of Lands showed to us.

“We are not against the government’s decision to acquire the land, but we want due process to be observed and we also want genuine compensation which will be commensurate with what we are about to lose.

The compensation must come now so that we don’t have to start chasing government after they must have taken over or destroyed our buildings,” he said Ugwu further said.

Also speaking, Chairman of the group, Chief Geoffrey Ogbuefi lamented that there was no sacrifice that can placate the emotional denial they would face for losing the land “as you can access any part of Enugu from the area.”

“There is no traffic jam in that part of the city and most of us spent several millions of Naira to rent houses there or acquire and build on the lands.  Now the government wants to force us out of our house without compensating us. Where do they want us to go from here?” Ogbuefi said.

When contacted yesterday, the state Commissioner for Lands, Mr. Herbert Edeoga denied the allegation that the land was forcefully acquired from the owners explaining that both the land owners and the community that originally owned the land had been dialoguing with the government on the issue.

He said that the government had already compiled the list of those that have interest in the said land and has gone further to compute the compensation to be paid to those affected, but added that the payment might not be possible this year since there was no provision made in the current budget for it.

Said the Commissioner: “It is true that government wants to acquire part of the layout for the expansion of the airport’s runway. So many announcements were made on radio and we have held meetings with the land owners and the community that originally owns the land and the community was directed to hold further meetings with the allottees.

We have gone on site, we did the survey, marked all the areas to be acquired.  We took details of owners of the land there and made announcements to the owners to submit their documents to the government.

“Having gone to site to do the enumeration we have been able to value the properties and the economic trees on the land.  One Barrister Ugwu who claims to be one of the land owners there was present in our meetings but he (Ugwu) was quoting the law demanding that compensation should be paid before government acquires the land.

“Compensation will be paid after computation which is going on now but that does not stop the progress of work on the airport. The compensation has no provision in the 2010 budget and the next thing is to provide for it in 2011 budget.”