The Oyo State Government has warned owners of abandoned buildings to put the structures to use or risk the government taking them over, saying such are constituting security threats to citizens and serving as hideouts for criminals.
The state Commissioner for Lands, Housing, Survey and Urban Development, Mr William Akin-Funmilayo, gave the warning when he inspected De Castle Inn, a hotel which has been abandoned on Queen Elizabeth II Road, Total Garden-Gate Road, Ibadan, the state capital.
Akin-Funmilayo, who decried the rate at which miscreants and hoodlums use abandoned buildings as hideouts, said owners of such buildings who refuse to do the needful must be ready to forfeit them to the state, asserting that the government will make proper use of the structures for the benefit of all residents of the state.
He stated: “I got information from the public and security agencies that this abandoned building is constituting a security threat to this environment and that in the night, criminals and hoodlums usually hide there.
“They go on the streets to snatch telephones, bags and other valuables from passers-by. Even additionally, it has become a home for illicit drug users whereby they trade in the illicit drugs as well as smoking different kinds of things.
The security guards on duty at the abandoned hotel, who addressed the commissioner, said the hotel had been abandoned for over 10 years and has become a haven for the men of the underworld who had removed some house fittings, equipment, and other accessories, disclosing that the owner of the hotel is out of the country.
In his response, the commissioner said correspondence would be sent to the owner to make use of the structure immediately or it would become a property of the state government, assuring that the government will work within the ambit of the law to take possession of the building to stop what is constituting a threat.
He stated: “The ultimatum we issued is immediate. As I’m talking now, the owner should immediately put the building up for what it is meant for or else he or she will forfeit it. The state government will take over the building to prevent a threat to the security of lives and property of people living in this vicinity. If still interested in the building, he or she should put it to use immediately.”
He extended the message to other owners of abandoned buildings in the state to put them to the primary use they are meant for or else the government will take them over, saying buildings not occupied or maintained cannot be left without government intervention.
Dominica Nwabufo
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