Date: 2012-08-06

Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Barrister Abdulrazak Atunwa, has declared his intention to intervene in the face-off between the Kwara state Government and the Ilorin Emirate Descendant Progressive Union (IEDPU) over the implementation of the new Land Act by the state government.

The Speaker gave the indication in Ilorin while addressing newsmen in his office. It would be recalled that IDPU had a fortnight ago placed an advertorial in one of the national dailies expressing its displeasure over the implementation of the new Land Use Act in the state and vowing to take its land back through all legal means. They also asserted that the action of government had thrown the people of emirate into poverty while outsider were given the said seized land.

The new Land Use Act, according to the Union, was capable of alienating the middle class group in the Emirate from access to affordable shelter. Atunwa, who traced the origin of the new land policy in the state to 2009, noted that the policy affected the entire people of the state but assured that he would employ dialogue and wider consultation in the bid to see where amendment could be made in the act.

The Speaker further noted that the agitation is seeking to changing development of land in the State and promised to ensure that stakeholders had round table discussion to resolve the impasse.

The Speaker who assured all concerned parties that they would be given opportunity to express their grievances said they would later reach an enduring and amicable resolution of the matter.

Related

The Position of the People of Ilorin Emirate on the Land Policy of the Kwara State Government

IEDPU warns Ahmed over 'elitist' land grab