Ibadan Circular Road: Victims Express Frustration Over Oyo Govt’s Delay In Compensating Property Owners After Demolition
According to them, the prolonged wait has subjected them to untold hardship, especially as inflation continues to erode the value of the expected payments.
Victims of the demolition exercise along the Ibadan Circular Road (ICR) project corridor have expressed deep frustration over the unexplained delay in receiving compensations, despite Governor Seyi Makinde’s directive for prompt payment.
The affected property owners, whose houses were demolished to pave the way for the project, have voiced concerns over what they describe as intentional delays in the disbursement of their entitlements.
According to them, the prolonged wait has subjected them to untold hardship, especially as inflation continues to erode the value of the expected payments. 9news Nigeria reports , some of the displaced residents lamented their worsening economic situation, accusing the compensation committee of failing to act swiftly.
They urged Governor Makinde to intervene and ensure that the process is expedited before the current economic crisis diminishes the relief intended by the compensation package. They also urged the governor to press the committee to expedite the payment before the current hyperinflation erodes the value of the compensatory palliative.
On November 16, 2024, Governor Makinde constituted a committee for the payment of relief honorarium to affected victims. Engineer Adekunle Adeniyi, leader of the Association of Owners of Demolished Houses at Ibadan Circular Road, told SaharaReporters that the committee, led by O.A. Odukoya, a retired Commissioner of Police, began sittings for the reverification of documents.
He explained that during the process, prospective claimants submitted several supporting documents, including land agreements, land surveys, title documents, National Identification Numbers (NINs), and letters of introduction from their communities. Some of the victims told SaharaReporters that despite the exercise concluding three months ago, there has been no update on the payment.
TreaThey emphasised that there are only 289 home-building claimants, out of which about 200 appeared for the verification process. “For crop claimants, about 1,000 names were listed, but only 400 appeared for verification,” one of the victims stated.
As a result, there are growing suspicions that committee members may be holding onto the funds to generate returns in fixed deposit portfolios. The victims further lamented that Nigeria’s economy is in a constant state of inflation, noting that when their houses were demolished, a bag of cement cost N3,200, but now it sells for about N12,000 in some areas.
When 9news Nigeria contacted the secretary of the committee, Olatunde Sunday, to ask about allegations that the Oyo State Governor had approved the payment to compensate the victims but that the committee was holding the funds in a fixed deposit account to generate returns, he said: “On that question, I don’t have the mandate to speak on it. I’m a government official, and I don’t have the mandate to address what you are asking me.
