From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Prince Ekanem Ekpo, the special adviser to the Cross River State governor on Housing says people are willing to identify government owned houses grabbed by certain individuals in the state.
Prince Ekpo who also chairs a 19-man panel set up by the government to recover government owned houses disclosed this in Calabar after the inauguration of the panel.
He said this is the first time an administration in the state will set up a panel like this and the present administration in the state is ready to put a stop to the practice of grabbing government owned houses.
“The governor is very serious about this task force and this is why he made one of his special advisers to be chairman of the task force, it has never happened before.
“We all know that things were carted away from the state, we know that government houses were taken without due process, we all know and cannot pretend over it.
“From the date of the announcement of the task force, I’ve had several calls from people who want to identify houses that were grabbed.
“As the government leaves, they take away all that belongs to the state, so we want to put a stop to it so that the next administration will also do the proper thing”, he said.
He said there is no time frame yet for the completion of the assignment of the taskforce and they will work until all the houses are completely recovered.
Earlier while inaugurating the taskforce, Governor Otu who was represented by the State Commissioner for Housing Beatrice Igwe gave the task force a 13-point terms of reference.
These include occupation, investigation, property verification, eviction, recovery, property management, legal action and enforcement.
The governor also mandated the committee to mediate in conflicts and disputes related to government house recovery and seek amicable resolutions where possible.
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