The Kogi State House of Assembly on Thursday said it has taken steps to resolve pending land disputes within communities and stop all illegal mining across the state.
The Chairman, House Committee on Land, Housing, Environment and Natural Resources, Abu Onoruoiza Jibril, disclosed this in Lokoja while fielding questions from Assembly correspondent shortly after his committee was inaugurated.
Jibril, who is the current lawmaker representing the Ajaokuta State constituency pointed out that the Assembly will no longer condone any form of sharp practices involving land, housing and mining in Kogi State.
“You may recall that on Thursday 37 of August 2023, the speaker on the floor of the House during plenary sitting, announced the reconstitution of the new members of the committee, on Land, Housing, Environment and Natural Resources.
“The Committee system is the engine component of the legislative process, when it is effective it operates as the functional machinery of the legislative institution to demonstrate separation of powers overseeing the activities of the other arms of government on behalf of the people and procuring relevant information to facilitate the building of restructuring the statutory fabric of the State.
“This Committee is composed of members who are well abreast with the challenges of Land, Housing, Environment and Natural Resources in the State, therefore, the committee shall play its prominent role of properly reviewing, scrutinising, monitoring and supervising the ministry and its agencies programs”.
“For now, land is delicate. We know exactly what it has caused in the Lokoja metropolis. We may all have heard that people hoard land, some sell a particular land for more than two or three persons. That would be behind us henceforth. The Assembly is one arm of Government, so we intend to work in synergy with the Executive and to ensure that all of this comes to a necessary end.
On the area of natural resources, the Kogi lawmaker pointed out that the people will be adequately protected from enemies who are illegally tapping the resources of the state.
Explaining further, Jibril said, “All this incessant exploration that is going on, mining and blasting in areas that do not go by environmental laws will be stopped. Especially where I came from in the Ajaokuta constituency, we have a lot of mining issues going on there.
“We will have them checked. On housing, we need to open land, so that we can build houses alongside civil servants having a house of their own. Political officeholders need to enjoy while they are serving the people. Everybody should be taken along”
Earlier, the Speaker of the House, Aliyu Umar in his address charged ministries, parastatals and agencies of government to be more proactive in their duties.