The Ekiti State Government has revoked 8,283.570 hectares of land at Oke-Ako Community in Ikole Local Government, belonging to the Oodua Investment Company Limited over security threats due to abandonment.
The state government explained that the abandoned land will be used for agricultural purposes.
The government has also earmarked N146.3 million as the first tranche of compensation to forty claimants whose crops and economic trees are on the excised portion of the Oodua Company land.
According to a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Value Orientation, Mr. Taiwo Olatunbosun, and made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, this was part of the highlights of the decisions reached at the weekly State Executive Meeting held on Tuesday in Ado Ekiti.
He said, “The revocation of the rights/interest of the Oodua Investment Company Limited subsisting on a large parcel of land at Oke-Ako Community in the Ajoni Local Council Development Authority in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State is in consonance with the Agricultural and Rural Development agenda of the present administration.
“A total of 8,283.570 hectares of land at Oke-Ako Community belonging to the Oodua Investment Company Limited, which was to be utilised by the company for integrated agro-business that could lift the local economy with significant economic and social impact on the state, now poses security threats to Oke-Ako and its neighbouring communities due to its abandonment for decades.
“The State Government has therefore decided to economically engage a substantial portion of the land for agricultural purposes.”