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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Landowners of the proposed Abia Airport project in Nsulu, Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area are warring against the Abia State Government, accusing officials of insincerity in the payment of compensation to them.
As a result, the landowners announced that they have taken back their farmlands ahead of the farming season, citing lack of transparency by the Abia State Government in the payment of compensation.
The affected villages, include Okpuala, Umuezenta and Umuelenwa in Umuomainta Autonomous Community, Mbawsi, Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area.
Speaking with newsmen at the proposed runway site of the Airport, the Village Head of Umuezenta and Secretary of the Nsulu Landowners Association, Echezolam Ukaumunna said their decision to take back their lands was driven by the need to avert hunger and economic hardship in the area.
Ukaumunna accused the Abia State Ministry of Lands and Survey of failing to address repeated complaints about alleged fictitious or non-existent names included in the compensation list.
He stated that the government was not engaging directly with the genuine landowners and that confidence in the process had eroded.
He said the landowners were no longer comfortable with the handling of the acquisition and compensation process.
“We, the people, appreciate the importance of this project. We are not against development. We have seen the portion involved in the runway, and we are asking the government to take that and allow the project to move on. But let them leave the areas outside the 3.54-kilometre runway stretch.
“We are begging the government to allow us access to our farmlands that are outside the runway. You can see that we did not farm last year. Our livelihoods have suffered. If this airport comes to stay and the people cannot survive, then the project becomes meaningless. It is the people who will enjoy the project; it is the people who will benefit from the improvement.”
He alleged that fictitious names were discovered on the compensation lists for Okpuala, Umuezenta and Umuelenwa, while many genuine landowners, some with up to 50 to 80 portions of land, had yet to receive payment.
According to him, transparency would require the government to publicly release the names of the 3,500 persons it claimed had been fully compensated.
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“In Umezenta alone, we identified 150 fictious names, In Umulenwa, there are over 130 questionable names, like wise in Okpuala. They know those who are responsible for the padding of the names.
“At one point, we were told 3,500 people had been paid. Later, we heard it was 500. We demanded the list of those paid. Instead of giving us that, we were given a list of those yet to be paid, and we still discovered fictitious names there.
“We are asking the government to sort out these names so that adequate compensation will go to the real landowners. Let there be a proper agreement in black and white so that our children will not accuse us tomorrow of selling them out.
Ukaumunna further alleged that the state government had not disclosed the rate being paid per portion of land or for cash crops. He claimed that some landowners invited to Umuahia were asked to sign indemnity forms without clear breakdowns of how compensation figures were calculated.
Isaac Ndukwe and Mrs. Ihuoma Ogubunka who spoke separately, expressed frustration over what they described as persistent lack of transparency and called on Governor Alex Otti to closely scrutinise those handling negotiations with the villagers.
