By Dotun Ibiwoye

IMAGINE buying a plot of land for half a million naira and somebody comes to claim that his ancestors bequeathed the land to him and insists that you must pay certain amount of money to commence work on the land.

Besides, he goes ahead to ask you to pay extras for foundation of your house, and another for fencing of the property. This practice is commonly referred to as Omo Onile wahala in Lagos

Omo Onile are descendants of the first settlers in a particular location. They have rights to land under the Customary Law in Nigeria.

They remain the source of land for potential builders, that is, land not acquired by government through the Land Use Act of 1978.

Both owners of properties and Lagos residents have always had negative perception of Omo Onile because of the crude manner they extort money from those who buy land from them.

Indeed, there are families that truly own vast hectares of land and transferred the lands from generation to generation, but several Omo Onile are actually settlers who found themselves within vast lands.

The major shortcomings which had given a bad image to the Omo Oniles is the common practice of selling a particular plot or parcel of land to several persons and bolting away with the proceeds, allowing those fleeced to sort out themselves. This often results in violence, loss of lives and in most cases, litigation among the buyers.

On July 31 this year, Lagos State Government commenced the full implementation of the new Land Use Law in the state.

The law makes it a criminal offence for anybody to file false documents for the purpose of obtaining Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) or government consent on land purchased after the Land Use Act of1978.

Lagos State House of Assembly has also begun deliberations on a bill to frustrate and criminalise activities of land grabbers, land speculators and regulate the activities of agents dealing with issues of land in the state.

Chairman, State House of Assembly, Committee on Judiciary, Public Complaints and Petitions, Mr. Sanai Agunbiade, stated that the bill, a private member bill, which already had the blessing of the executive arm of the state government, will soon be presented to the House for further deliberations and passage.

“These land-grabbers are taking us back to the stone age of violence, barbarism and ridiculous way of doing things. So we want to use the law to break that unholy chain that bonds lawyers, police and some land-grabbers who are criminally-minded.”

Governor Babatunde Fashola had also reiterated that 34 years was enough time for the transitional provisions of the Land Use Act to have taken place in the country, adding that if people wanted land in the state, it was available.