Anambra Govt To Prosecute Retired Civil Servants
Anambra State Government on Friday vowed to call back and prosecute retired civil servants or political appointees implicated in cases of giving fake or illegal land and building approvals.
The government decision is coming following findings that most of the illegal structures across the state, had approvals given by civil servants, some now retired.
Recall that the State Physical Planning Board, ANSPPB, has since the inception of the Chukwuma Soludo administration, been demolishing illegal structures across the state.
Findings from interviews with some of the developers have shown that many of them had approvals from government-recognized agencies, backing their activities.
Some have even gone to the point of taking the state government to court for indiscriminate demolition of their properties, claiming humongous amounts of money as compensations.
In a statement on Friday, by the State Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu said government will come down hard on its officials who facilitate fake land and building approvals.
He said this has become necessary in view of illegal encroachments on lands including government-owned ones and other land transactions that have been facilitated with papers cooked by government officials.
He said; “to demonstrate its determination to sanitize the system, government is ready to bring to book retired civil servants and political appointees implicated in some of these unwholesome transactions.
“It has been discovered that most of these cash-and-carry approvals given by unscrupulous officials in the past are responsible for the proliferation of the illegal structures we have everywhere, including areas that originally had master-plans.
“These illegal structures deface the landscapes which were originally designed to be serene, green and liveable.
“Secondly, they block drainage channels and precipitate unforeseen waste management crises that pose danger to our people.”
He said the state government has therefore directed the Anambra State Physical Planning Board to begin to identify illegal buildings and structures without the requisite approvals for immediate removal.
“Every human life is precious to this government and it cannot afford the tragedy of building collapse or people drowning in flood because of the greed of some serving and past officials,” he said.
