The Kogi State government has threatened to withdraw the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued on a 50,000-hectare of land acquired by Bua Group a decade ago.
The threat follows the refusal of Bua Group to pay compensation to the community from which the land was acquired.
At a public hearing of one of the Kogi House of Assembly ad-hoc committees which held in a hotel in Lokoja on Monday, October 17, due to the recent fire incident at the assembly complex, Alfa Momoh-Rabiu, Deputy Speaker of the house, read a summon following a presentation from Salihu Mustapha, acting Surveyor-General of the state.
“We are having problems with the BUA Group over 50,000 hectares of land it acquired in 2012 and even obtained a certificate of occupancy (C of O) but has not paid a kobo for the land.
“We have written to the group several times but it has not responded to any of the letters.
“No compensation has been paid to the communities that own the expanse of land.”
Mustapha added that if BUA Group refuses to pay for the land and compensate the community, the government shall revoke the certificate of occupancy.
Reacting Umar Tenimu, the ad-hoc committee’s chairman, said it was an offence for BUA Group to hold the land for more than 10 years without paying for it.
He said the company should be summoned to “come and explain why it refused to pay for the land and why it refused to compensate the community involved”.
According to NAN, Sunday Ogieva, a corporate communications official of BUA, said he could not comment on the issue when he was contacted.
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