Chairman of Oshimili South Local Government Area, Barrister John Obusom, says the property under contention belongs to the council and the mechanics must pay rent to the council.
Hear him:
Your comment on the rift between your office and the members of NATA
The mechanic village, as it is properly called, is the property of Oshimili South Local Government Council. That has been the position right from when it was development authority during the military regime. The local government acquired it in the old Bendel State. All the structures there were erected by the local government council. If the mechanics must use it, they must pay. We did not say they should not use it but they will pay rent to the owner of the land. The local government is the landlord of that place. The contention now is that the Commissioner for Transport, Hon. Benson Igbakpa, was assuming ownership of the land. When the road was commissioned, the governor made it clear to him that the land is the property of the local government. If anybody is using that place, he should pay rent to the council, it’s a source of revenue to the council.
They are collecting money from people selling there and they are not remitting it to the council. Is that not fraudulent? And when we saw that they were not occupying the entire land space, we went to clear the expressway of big lorries, we now say let’s give lorry drivers one side to pack their lorries and they are protesting. How can they protest? They are not using everything and the local government wants to de-congest the main road, they are making noise. They must obey constituted authority. The governor of the state has made it clear that that place belongs to the local government, anybody using it should pay rent.
Now, when the Commissioner was giving the place to them, were they informed of this?
You cannot give what you don’t have. The commissioner has no right to give that place to anybody. If you are talking of decongesting the town, it is the duty of the Ministry of Environment, not Transport. The mechanics are not transporters, they are mechanics. The transport commissioner cannot give what he does not have. Will I take your property and give to another person? Do I have the right to do that? No! The local government is a tier of government with the right to owe and acquire property and anybody using it will pay, that’s the position.
They also said the tax or rent levied on them is so high for them to pay
Have they come to negotiate? I have a text message they sent to me acknowledging that they had been informed. When I came in here, I invited them and we discussed. And they said they will come. We’ve not seen them again. Look at the text message their chairman sent to me on the 5th of March, 2015, by 7:30am, they said “my chairman, good morning sir, I’m so sorry in any way I have offended you. Please sir, I’m ready to work with your administration. We have agreed to pay the money. Thanks and God bless you”. And since March up till now, we’ve not seen them and they are collecting money from people there. Should I fold my hands, the local government needs revenue to function and the mechanic village is an aspect of the local government.
The National President of NATA called me but I told him my position, we are not saying they should not use it, but they must pay rent to us. They are not the owners and the state never gave the place to them. The transport commissioner has no power to take it. Even at that the governor of the state told him that the place belongs to the local government and anybody using it should be accountable to us and pay rent.
Now what do you think is the way forward to resolve the entire issue?
We are not saying they should not use the place, but they will pay rent to the council. That’s all. It’s one of our sources of revenue. Are they not making money? When they were in the town, were they not paying rent? Now they’ve come to the mechanic village, they say they don’t want to pay rent. Is it right? We have all our documents showing our ownership of that place. If the Ministry of Transport say they own the land, let them show us the proof of ownership of the land. We are not quarreling. The governor is aware of what is happening.
(At this juncture, he brought out all the old documents where the land was released to the council in the early 80s and 90s, showing them one by one)
They said you allowed trailers and trucks to enter the land and take-over the place from them
I told you that the mechanic village is so wide and they are not occupying all of them, so in the interim, instead of trailers lying on the highway causing accident and obstruction, we moved them to a part of the mechanic village. Owners of the trucks are paying rent to us but they are not paying rent. It’s my property, I don’t want trailers to be on the highway and cause obstruction or accident so I took 1/3 and gave to the trailers and they are paying me rent, the mechanics are occupying 2/3 and they don’t want to pay rent, it’s unacceptable to us.
