By Grace Alegba

The Chairman, Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Adeleye Ajayi, has appealed to subscribers of the union’s estate in Abaren, Ogun, to take urgent possession of their land to ward off encroachers.

Ajayi made the plea at a stakeholders’ meeting on the site of the estate acquired by the union in 2008 in Abaren village near Mowe, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, Ogun, on Saturday.

Ajayi explained the extent of infrastructure development toward making the land accessible to subscribers.

He commended journalists who had started building and appealed to others to take the bold step, saying that all adjoining communities already had buildings.

“We have opened four major roads in the estate,” he said.

Ajayi said the subscribers should expect another stakeholders’ meeting soon to ensure the completion of the estate.

The Chairman of Abaren Land Committee, Mr Olisa Egbunike, said: “What we are trying to do here is to help people acquire assets.”

Egbunike warned of encroachment and advised stakeholders to quickly take possession of their land.

He commended the present leadership of the union for having listening ears and supporting the committee.

“We are going to open four additional roads. We want to encourage you people by providing this minimum infrastructure,” he said.

Egbunike said the only thing that made the Arepo Journalists Estate a reality was ‘faith and commitment’ which must be adopted to make the Abaren Journalists’ Estate project a reality.

The committee chairman said the neighbouring communities were friendly and were relying on journalists to open up the area as they did in the Arepo Estate.

He said boundary tracing had begun and efforts were on to get the global Certificate of Occupancy from the Ogun State government.

He said two more reallocations would be done on the portions not yet covered before putting a seal on the process of land allocation.

Egbunike said a meeting would be held with the community leaders soon.

(NAN)