Greetings!
One of the things I've been praying for in my life is never to be in a situation where the government or community leaders come and tell me that I need to vacate my land because they want to use it. You've seen that occurrence, right? Although some of those situations come with huge payments to the landowner, most times, nothing is given to the landowner all in the name of "we are developing our land."
When I was still living in my home village, I had this encounter and I almost ran mad.
There's this man we used to call Uncle Kingsley. He has many vast lands due to inheritance from his father.
He was the only son of a man who acquired many lands when lands were obtained via bold cultivation of farms (I mean, lands were gotten then based on your ability to clear a forest). On one of the lands, he planted plantains and a few palm trees. While they were growing, he was using the large space for cassava farming too. I got to know more about the man when he was hiring us to clear the farm.
During one of the holidays that I visited home after going to higher institution and was no longer available for labor work, Uncle Kingsley came to our house. He was discussing with my dad when I heard the shocking news that the community wanted to use half of his land to expand the space they had allocated to create a school.
"You mean that land?" I rushed out from where I was and asked.
"Yes ooo, my brother. It's the matter I've been dealing with for the past month," he responded in a very weakened tone.
"Well, as long as they're going to pay double, there's actually no issue," I added sharply. As I was walking away, the words he said made me pause.
"Pay keh? They said they're taking the land for free."
I couldn't believe my ears. I wasn't the owner of the land but at that instant, I saw myself in Uncle Kingsley's place, my heart burning with anger.
"And you agreed? I wouldn't try it. I would arrest all of them," my voice was somewhat loud this time around.
"Hahaha! You want to arrest a community? Don't you know a community is a government which has the police force? You want to use the government to arrest a government?" My dad laughed.
Well, after many months, I went home again for holidays and I saw the school buildings going up already. Uncle Kingsley's land was taken, though not all but a part of it. The school premises are big, which means they collected from many owners and none of them were compensated because according to the community, the school they were building is a community school that will add value to the community.
For me, I didn't see the reason why compensation was not given. I saw it as a forceful action and oppression because the community had power and was backed by the government.
To be sincere, I don't think I would have succumbed to releasing the land for free if it were mine.
Thanks for reading.
| Images are mine |