Abia Airport: Landowners War Against Govt Over Compensation Payment
Landowners of the proposed Abia Airport project in Nsulu, Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area, are suing the Abia State Government, accusing officials of being dishonest in paying them compensation.
As a result, landowners announced that they had reclaimed their farmlands ahead of the farming season, citing the Abia State Government’s lack of transparency in compensation payments.
Okpuala, Umuezenta, and Umuelenwa are among the villages affected in the Umuomainta Autonomous Community of Mbawsi, Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area.
The Village Head of Umuezenta and Secretary of the Nsulu Landowners Association, Echezolam Ukaumunna, told reporters at the airport’s proposed runway site that the need to prevent hunger and economic hardship in the area was the main reason they decided to reclaim their lands.
Ukaumunna accused the Abia State Ministry of Lands and Survey of failing to address numerous complaints about alleged fictitious or non-existent names on the compensation list.
He claimed that the government was not communicating directly with legitimate landowners, and that trust in the process had eroded.
He stated that the landowners were dissatisfied with how the acquisition and compensation process was being handled.
“We, the people, appreciate the importance of this project. We are not against development. We have seen the portion involved in the runway, and we are asking the government to take that and allow the project to move on. But let them leave the areas outside the 3.54-kilometre runway stretch.
“We are begging the government to allow us access to our farmlands that are outside the runway. You can see that we did not farm last year. Our livelihoods have suffered. If this airport comes to stay and the people cannot survive, then the project becomes meaningless. It is the people who will enjoy the project; it is the people who will benefit from the improvement.”
He claimed that while many legitimate landowners, some of whom owned as many as 50 to 80 parcels of land, had not yet received payment, false names had been found on the compensation lists for Okpuala, Umuezenta, and Umuelenwa.
He said that in order to be transparent, the government would have to make the names of the 3,500 people it said had received full compensation available to the public.
“In Umezenta alone, we identified 150 fictious names, In Umulenwa, there are over 130 questionable names, like wise in Okpuala. They know those who are responsible for the padding of the names.
“At one point, we were told 3,500 people had been paid. Later, we heard it was 500. We demanded the list of those paid. Instead of giving us that, we were given a list of those yet to be paid, and we still discovered fictitious names there.
“We are asking the government to sort out these names so that adequate compensation will go to the real landowners. Let there be a proper agreement in black and white so that our children will not accuse us tomorrow of selling them out.
Ukaumunna also claimed that the state government had not disclosed the rate paid per unit of land or for cash crops. He claimed that some landowners invited to Umuahia were asked to sign indemnity forms that did not provide a clear breakdown of how compensation was calculated.
Isaac Ndukwe and Mrs. Ihuoma Ogubunka, who spoke separately, expressed dissatisfaction with what they described as a persistent lack of transparency and urged Governor Alex Otti to closely monitor those handling negotiations with the villagers.
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