₦airaland Forum

The lawmaker representing Nkanu East constituency in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Okechukwu Mbah, has revealed why the state government halted the construction of the Biomass-Based Methanol Plant by the Energy Commission of Nigeria.

According to Mbah, the Minister of Innovation Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji tried to use the siting of the project as a camouflage for a land grab, which the Amanguze community in the Nkanu East Local Government Area resisted.

Mbah alleged that Nnaji initially bought a nearby parcel of land for personal business before proposing the federal government project to take over the disputed land between the Amagunze community in Nkanu East LGA and the Akpugo community in Nkanu West LGA.

The Energy Commission of Nigeria had on Sunday expressed outrage over the arrest of its workers by police at the construction site of the multi-billion-naira Renewed Hope Bio-Methanol Pilot Plant in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State.

The commission, an agency under the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, alleged that the arrests, which occurred penultimate Friday, were orchestrated by the Enugu State Government.

According to the commission, the detained workers have not yet been released, and construction activities at the site have been halted.

An official of the commission, Mr. E. Okeke, had told journalists in Enugu that seven construction workers were arrested during the operation.

But addressing a press conference on Friday, the lawmaker representing Nkanu East at the State Assembly criticised Mr Uchenna Nnaji, the minister, for not announcing the project to the Enugu State government or the council governments of Nkanu East or Nkanu West.

He also blamed Nnaji for being aware of the land dispute and failing to consult with the relevant parties before siting the project on Amagunze land, which he claimed belongs to the Akpugo community.

This move allegedly infuriated the Amanguze community, prompting them to report to the Enugu State government, which subsequently ordered the halt of the plant’s construction.

Mbah appealed to President Bola Tinubu to investigate the matter and call Nnaji to order, questioning why the project was attributed to Nkanu West LGA instead of Nkanu East, where the project is actually located.

He said, “There was no due diligence on the part of the minister. We are not against the federal government project coming into our community; in fact, we have more vast land for any project, but due process should be followed.

“Again, for such a gigantic project that will have waste products, there was no Environmental Impact Assessment made before siting the project. These are the reasons why we sealed the project at the moment.

“We’re also asking the Enugu State Boundary Committee to step in to address the demarcation between the two communities in two different local government councils to save conflict in the area.”

zero8zero:
So, finally, it is a supremacy battle between the Governor and the Minister for 2027. The land grab is just a mere excuse. There was a land dispute where FG sites Abia airport, there was a protest yet Otti proceeded with the project and talked to the people. There's no land dispute that can be more serious than huge projects beneficial to the generality of the people of the state and Nigeria.

TimeManager:
All this 'it is my land, it is our land ' in the SE to delay or frustrate projects could be very annoying. Tinubu should relocate the two projects to Imo or Ebonyi states, those ones are more serious.


-Kiss the truth!

EmperorCaesar:



Underdevelopment no dey tire you?

These ones are not serious abeg

FG wan build your city, but small community mindset no dey gree una

zero8zero:
https://punchng.com/enugu-lawmaker-accuses-minister-of-land-grab-over-methanol-plant/

zero8zero:
So, finally, it is a supremacy battle between the Governor and the Minister for 2027. The land grab is just a mere excuse. There was a land dispute where FG sites Abia airport, there was a protest yet Otti proceeded with the project and talked to the people. There's no land dispute that can be more serious than huge projects beneficial to the generality of the people of the state and Nigeria.

TimeManager:
All this 'it is my land, it is our land ' in the SE to delay or frustrate projects could be very annoying. Tinubu should relocate the two projects to Imo or Ebonyi states, those ones are more serious.


-Kiss the truth!

EmperorCaesar:



Underdevelopment no dey tire you?

These ones are not serious abeg

FG wan build your city, but small community mindset no dey gree una

Mrfeel:
Why not relocate it to ekiti or Ogun, we don't have free lands in igboland we only have 5 plots of land

FreeStuffsNG:
Smh.

Should there be an arrest in the first place? On a FG project? The National Assembly should get to the bottom of this before siting projects in hostile communities.

FG should please bring the project to Lagos state abeg. We will recieve them with tremendous joy and give the project all the support it needs to succeed phenomenally.

May God bless Nigeria for ever!

PressMyButton:
Una dey do una self, if you don't marginalize yourselves, nobody can marginalize you. This is same reason they have not had a sixth state because they never agreed on anything among themselves. Tinubu should relocate the projects to SW or NC.

zero8zero:
So, finally, it is a supremacy battle between the Governor and the Minister for 2027. The land grab is just a mere excuse. There was a land dispute where FG sites Abia airport, there was a protest yet Otti proceeded with the project and talked to the people. There's no land dispute that can be more serious than huge projects beneficial to the generality of the people of the state and Nigeria.

Irony1:
This is Enugu oooo not Abia bros.

Irony1:
Try and be sensible and stop yapping rubbish.

PressMyButton:
Una dey do una self, if you don't marginalize yourselves, nobody can marginalize you. This is same reason they have not had a sixth state because they never agreed on anything among themselves. Tinubu should relocate the projects to SW or NC.

Mrfeel:
Igboland is one of the most built up region in Nigeria, we build without the help of federal government