The Oyo State Government, on Wednesday, began the payment of N325 million compensation to owners of property acquired for the construction of two bus terminals at the Iwo Road Interchange, Ibadan, the state capital.
The State Commissioner for Public Works, Daud Sangodoyin, who issued cheques to some of the property owners on Wednesday, at the State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, disclosed that 227 affected property owners who have no litigation on their property would benefit from the gesture.
Sangodoyin noted that the state government was building two bus terminals at Iwo Road, which occupied some private property and alluded to the delay in the fund disbursement to due process that must be strictly followed, saying three ministries were involved in the process of valuing the property and data collection.
He said: “We have two bus terminals that we’re building at Iwo Road which occupy two private property and we need to pay compensations. All we had to do was to identify owners of the property and present their cheques to them.”
The Commissioner stated that governor Makinde was concerned about the affected property owners and had charged all concerned ministries to accelerate the process in order to fast track the disbursement saying, “And we are paying their compensation amounting to N325 million.”
Sangodoyin explained that due process was followed before arriving at the amounts to be paid to the respective property owners, giving the three ministries charged with the valuation of the property as the ministries of Lands & Survey, Justice, and Public Works, which had all done valuation of the property based on their respective professional experiences.
“They did the valuation of the properties and based on their recommendations on the worth on the property, that’s how we arrived at the value for each property. And we’re not making this payment in batches. Like I said earlier, the money is already available for all those with no litigations on their property.”
The Commissioner revealed that Governor Seyi Makinde had rebuilt a mosque demolished as a result of the construction of the bus terminals and had also paid N50 million to the owner of an affected church building.
Sangodoyin commended the affected property owners for their patience, understanding, and cooperation all along, assuring that the people would continue to be the focal point of all policies and programmes of the Makinde-led government.
Two of the beneficiaries, Jimoh Amodu and Mrs Abiola Adekoya, appreciated the state government for fulfilling its promise on the demolition.
PIAK
