JUST IN: Fear grips developers as Anambra embarks on land verification

FEAR has gripped property developers in Anambra State as Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is set to embark on a land verification exercise to fish out illegal land claimants.

The affected locations are Millennium City Layout, Iyiagu Layout and Ikenga Layout, all in Awka, the state capital.

An official of the Ministry of Lands said the verification is in accordance with the approved recommendation(s) stipulated in the report of the state government’s Land Reform Committee white paper.

Property owners in the affected layouts are expected to provide two passport photographs, government identification card, an original photocopy of the land allocation letter, a photocopy of the building certificate of occupancy (C of O) and an original photocopy of all receipts of payments for sighting.

Other requirements include related documents in respect of the plots and a non-refundable application fee of N5,000.

A statement by the permanent secretary in the state Ministry of Lands, Edwin Ejike said the exercise would end on June 15, 2023.

Ejike also provided dedicated government account details which the fee would be paid into.

Many property owners in the listed estates, however, said they were taken aback by the announcement, arguing that they had earlier fulfilled these requirements.

But a retired civil servant who owns a property at Iyiagu Estate believed that the periodic verification would bring sanity into the system because many land speculators are on the prowl in the state, particularly in Awka and Onitsha.