Owners of a quarry company, Nino Corporation Ltd, have raised the alarm over an alleged possession of their land by the authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) by building a new facility on the said land at the border community between Karu local government area in Nasarawa state and Karshi in Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The company, which said it has been ordered to vacate its own property, is asking for adequate compensation and time from the NCS in order to relocate to another site; however, its request has not yet been attended to, neither has it been invited for negotiation.
Investigation by newsmen during and after the recent inspection tour of the project by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Aregbesola Abdulrauf, in company of the acting Comptroller-General of NCS, Haliru Nababa, revealed that the Correctional Service authorities did not show any evidence to the company to prove that they are the owners of the land where the multi-billion naira facility is being built.
The land is a solid mineral area under exclusive list of the federal government and Nino Corporation Ltd was lawfully allocated the place by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Mineral Development, investigation showed.
Subsequently, the Development Control of the FCTA pasted a vacation notice on the site to Nino Corporation Ltd, an order which the company contested and supported its argument with Section 1 of the Land Use Act of 1978, Sections 44 (3) of the 1999 Construction and Section 1 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007.
This was due to the fact that the land, located in Nasarawa state, is a solid mineral area which is solely under the purview of the federal government.
The company’s position is further supported by documents from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Mineral Development.
The quarry company, after satisfying all necessary regulatory processes, duly got the approval and allocation of the plot beside a massive rock by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Mineral Development.
The FCTA authorities later confirmed through necessary documents the side of the story of the company but the NCS is alleged not to have responded positively to the compensation request to enable the company relocate to another site.
The quarry site which blasts and grinds rocks is now in the middle of NCS facility and it is unsafe for any residential and official accommodation.
The Chairman/CEO of Nino Corporation Ltd, Mr. Nino Abohai, said that the operation and fortunes of the company have been crippled as a result of the alleged trespass and in his quest to get justice.
“This company was doing very well and we had about 70 employees and a big market has been adversely affected.
“The company is disposed to moving to another location but we need compensation to enable us do so”, he said.
When the office of the Comptroller-General of the NCS was contacted, his aide, Lawal Jangebe, responded through phone call that his boss, Mr. Haliru Nababa, had not yet approved the request of the company’s chairman for the two parties to meet on Nino Corporation’s demand for compensation.
