Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML), current owners of the assets of the defunct Delta Steel Company (DSC), Ovwian-Aladja, Delta State has again warned land speculators and property developers to beware of landed property acquired by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the purpose of developing the largest integrated steel complex in sub-Saharan Africa, stressing that those patronizing desperate vendors and building on those lands acquired for purpose of expanding the steel company stand the risk of losing their investments when the Federal Government decides to take action any moment soon.
Director of Legal Affairs, Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML), Barr Emmanuel Agbaje, in a statement released to journalists on Thursday, emphasized that all the lands on both sides and around the expressway from Igbiki and NBTC junction to the Steel Plant belongs to the Federal Government for the purpose of developing and expanding the Delta Steel Company (DSC), stressing that there are subsisting court injunctions restraining land speculators from encroaching on the aforementioned property and that in no time, action shall be taken against those building on the land and that when they run to the courts for protection, the courts will not be there for them.
Barr Agbaje warned that over time, Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML) has continued to warn land speculators from encroaching on those lands which were dully acquired by the federal government from the communities and that whoever does not adhere to these warnings shall have his or herself to blame in due course as the silence of government cannot be taken for granted without consequences.
Barr Agbaje emphasized that the press statement became imperative in view of the observed unwholesome activities of land speculators/trespassers in those areas with some physical structures springing up inside the bushes suggesting that some illegal occupants have started building on land acquired illegally from some dubious vendors.
“As we stated in our earlier warnings, the Federal Government which acquired those land did not at any time release the land to anybody for sale to land speculators.
“Those running from one court to the other in search of judicial pronouncement to back their sinister activities should understand that when the Federal Government bulldozers start pulling down those structures, PSML should not be blamed for the loss of their investment. They shall surely reap the whirlwind in due course.
“We are repeating these warnings so nobody would blame us when things start happening. Our newspaper publications and advertorials at huge cost to us will stand as witnesses against the trespassers. Nobody is above the law. However good your case is, if you flout valid court orders there must be consequences.
“It can take five, ten or even twenty years for the government to act. Act they must someday and when the bulldozers start coming, ignorance of the real owner (Federal Government of Nigeria) will not spare the illegally acquired property from the bulldozers.
“Government is already aware of the situation and it may act anytime soon. Buildings as tall as ten-storey edifices have been brought down by government bulldozers in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country.
“Let me repeat for the umpteenth time, stay away from DSC lands in and around the steel plant and other locations in Delta state so as not to lose your investments. Government is aware of the dubious activities of those encroaching on the lands and very soon, the federal government will come and take over that which they already acquired many years ago’’, Barr Agbaje added.
