The Enugu State government said it has begun the disbursement of the second batch of compensation to the property owners and tenants of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), affected by the soon to be commenced construction of modern transport terminal at Holy Ghost, Enugu.
The move has also been commended by the NRC, which is the lessor of the said properties. However, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Obi Ozor, has reiterated processes and criteria for payment of compensation, insisting that original tenants of the NRC were entitled to compensation.
He said: “The compensation is for property owners, those who are the original tenants of the Nigerian Railway Cooperation. They should go and submit their documents to them after which the Nigerian Railway will forward those documents to the state for immediate payment of their compensation.
“This is the second batch of the compensation. The first batch has already been paid and they are happy. For those who are here to collect their payments today, they will fill the indemnity form, and sign it. The state government and the Nigeria Railway Corporation, which is the landlord, will also sign.
“More so, another form ensuring the right of first refusal to these affected persons after the completion of the project will equally be signed here. This is in line with the governor’s earlier commitment in writing to ensure that present occupants are given the first opportunity to own places there once ready.”
Ozor further stated that in order to mitigate the high cost of transportation in the state, the Enugu State government had procured 50 Compress Natural Gas(CNG) buses with the passenger capacity of 80 persons each for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), stressing that additional 100 buses would equally delivered.
According to him, “CNG saves 64% of fuel cost and the buses have trackers and must have each security personnel to guarantee safety of the passengers. We are going to have at least 80 bus shelters where these buses will enter to discharge passengers. The idea is that we shouldn’t be dropping passengers on the roads.
“So, what we are doing at Holy Ghost, Agbani, Abakpa, Garki, and Nsukka in the first phase is not all about bus terminals. In these terminals, we will have cinemas and other facilities where people can easily go to have fun.”
But one of the beneficiaries and Managing Director of Farm Associate Nigeria Limited, a livestock feed production company, Alhaji Isa Okeke, who spoke to reporters, lauded the state government for fulfilling its promises.
He said the reason it seems people were always apprehensive was because of failed promises of the past governments, saying he was happy that the Mbah administration had kept every promise made for people to begin to trust the government again. Okeke said that as a renowned agriculturalist, he was always ready to partner with the state and bring his ideas towards the actualisation of what he described as the very ambitious plans of the Mbah Administration in the agriculture sector.
In his remarks, the District Public Relation Officer, Eastern District Headquarters, of the NRC, Dr. Onyedikachi Onovo, commended the state government for the smooth process of the payment of compensation, maintaining that the interest of the Corporation was to ensure that due process was followed in the payment of compensation to its tenants in the area. He further urged those whose names were yet to be captured to do the needful by submitting their details to NRC for immediate payment by the state government.
“Our interest as the Nigerian Railway Corporation is to ensure that due process is followed in paying the property owners. It’s important that we are here, and we pray it continues smoothly so that everyone will be happy at the end of the day.
“Those whose names have not been captured should hasten up and submit their details to the Nigerian Railway Cooperation for onward transmission to the state government, which is ready to pay them their compensation. It’s a good move and I laud the state for this,” Dr. Onovo said.
