by Roqeebah Olaoniye

Of course by now you already heard about the  which was signed into law on August 15. It protects the proprietary rights of Land and Property owners in Lagos State and criminalizes any act of forceful and unlawful entry or occupation of premises i.e Omo-oniles are now criminals. Well legally.

These are 6 reasons why this should be good for you.

• You no longer have to fear that your land. That you bought. With your hard earned money. Following all the expensive processes that your lawyer advised you to, might still belong to somebody’s ancestor. Who may or may not rise to challenge you any day from when you begin developments.

Amen somebody!

• You no longer have to spend extra money to hire members of the Nigerian Army to protect you while you put up your buildings

It is not uncommon to find young and old thugs at the gate or entrance of construction sites demanding all sorts of fines and huge sums of money without any legitimate account. Now you don’t have to spend the extra cash.

• You can now delete hoodlums’ numbers off your phone

Because you can only form tough-guy-my-daddy-is-in-the-army for so long. When all the yanga ends, omo-oniles will still be hanging around and this is the point when you bring your shoulders down, walk up to them, initiate conversation in your most street credible voice, and appease the ancestors. Yes, even your lawyer will advise you to do this.

• Speaking of lawyers, that lawyer who connives with them will also be in trouble

This one is so good because many lawyers and estate agents have been known to act in conjunction with the hoodlums to harass and swindle unsuspecting land owners.

Section 9, prohibits professionals from aiding in conduct that constitute an offence under the law and such professionals must be reported to the relevant bodies for misconduct.

• You shouldn’t have to inherit your grandpa’s land matter when he dies

We should see a huge reduction in the number of cases in the property divisions of Lagos State Courts.

If you’ve ever had any reason to be in a Property division court in Lagos then you get this. The amount of claims bothering on forceful and unlawful possession of land or property arising out of Lagos alone! And these species of cases drag on for the longest, seeing as the cases can survive whoever instituted them.

• Does this mean we might soon see the end of ‘agberos’?

Hurry up Governor Ambode. Please.

Roqeebah

Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.