The Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes has pledged to tackle the menace of land grabbing in Ibadan.

The council also cautioned indigenes against sales of ancestral lands.

The President-General of CCII, Ajeniyi Ajewole, stated this during a news conference organised as part of activities for the 2025 Ibadan week held on Friday at Ibadan House.

The Ibadan Cultural Festival tagged. “Ibadan Week” is an annual weeklong programme of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII).

CCII is the umbrella body of all organisations, clubs, and societies of Ibadan indigenes both in Nigeria and diaspora.

Mr Ajewole said that the aim of the conference was to sensitise family and community heads in Ibadan to the danger of selling ancestral lands to strangers.

He added that the conference also aimed to jointly proffer solutions to land grabbing menace in Ibadan.

The president commended the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, for establishing the anti-land grabbing agency to curb the widespread phenomenon of land grabbing in the state.

Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Musbau Adetunbi, said that lack of clear demarcation and documentation including rapid urbanisation and geometric population growth had increased competition for land leading to unlawful encroachment.

Mr Adetunbi noted that corruption and greediness of some influential Nigerians also contributed to the high rate of land grabbing in Nigeria.

According to him, the menace of land grabbing must be urgently addressed because of loss of lives and property associated with it.

“Government must come up with strong policies that would improve land governance and ensure good documentation of land in the state, “he said.

Equally, the Oyo State Surveyor-General, Olusoji Adeoye, said that it would be difficult for an outsider to grab land in a particular community without collaboration of an insider.

He cautioned that outright selling ancestral lands meant selling the future, identity and heritage of a family.

He stated, “Though, the law of Nigeria permits any citizen to own property in any part of the country, however, no man is under any compulsion to sell his property. We must unite to protect our land; we can lease the land instead of outright sale for the benefits of generation unborn.’’

(NAN)