Monday
Who should pay the agent? This should be a
straight forward question, especially with the recent Tenancy Law, which laid
down regulations for tenancy matters. Yet this question continues to rear its
ugly head daily between clients and agents. The Law says that whoever appoints
the agent, should pay for the service. What is so hard to understand in this
matter? You still find Agents hustling
everyone else apart from their clients for their fees, or as in my case last
week, the client blatantly telling the agent to go get their fees from
elsewhere. Who will implement our Laws?
Tuesday
I heard on the
news this morning that Hugo Chaves, the President of Venezuela, has embarked on
a mission to provide at least 2 million good quality low cost housing for all the
disadvantaged people in his country. He has apparently already provided homes
for hundreds of thousands of his people since his tenure began and will press
ahead until it reaches the two million mark and above! Poverty levels have
dropped from 50% since his tenure started to 28% today! That is so commendable.
Why on earth can’t Nigeria do the same? If only 1% of a fraction of all the
alleged stolen money from oil, pensions etc was put towards developing homes
for Nigerians, half of the country’s problems would be solved
Wednesday
The Makoko waterside shanty community which
has been built up over a number of years on the waterside in Yaba, has been
finally demolished. Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless
without a thought about relocating or providing alternative accommodation for
them. A few months ago I wrote about the threats to demolish this community
when a senior state official said in the press that “he did not care where they
went to, they should just move themselves away from the area” At the time I had
dared to venture into that community for some charity work and I was appalled
at the sanitary conditions, or should I say, the lack of it. Therefore the
community does need help. I am dismayed though it has been so ruthlessly
demolished without a thought for alternative housing for them. Where will all
these people go?
Thursday
In the process of demolishing the shanties
of Makoko, some children unfortunately lost their lives in the chaos that
followed the officials moving in with their bulldozers. A community leader was
also killed in the process. It is sad that lives were lost and from news that
has been published, no plans have been made for these displaced residents and
their numerous children. The State Government should step in to ensure the safe
resettlement of these people, although it may unfortunately be too late for some.
Friday
It is highly
amusing to hear about land tussle cases that go on in Nigeria, some border on
the ridiculous and others sound like comedy sketches. I was reading with my
eyes wide open, the land dispute going on in an Abuja high court between two
“very very very” important women. One of the women was given an allocation of
prime land with Right of Occupancy for her NGO a few years ago. Development
started on the land in late 2011 during which a backdated revocation notice was
sent to her by the relevant Ministry. The land was then duly allocated to the
second woman’s NGO??? The FG has stepped into the case, which has been back and
forth in court and has now been adjourned further till the end of this year! It
will be interesting to see the outcome of this case. As the proverbial saying
goes, “when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”
No comments:
Post a Comment