Professionals under the auspices of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Ogun State branch, has called on the state government and residents, to engage their members in private practice as consultants for the assessment, valuation and payment of compensation of compulsory acquisition property and other core areas of their practice as being done in other states of the federation.
The NIS’ state Chairman, Surveyor Ademola Adebowale stated this during a-day Sensitization/Town Hall to the palace of Olu of Siun, Oba Lawrence Oyeyinka, identified these among other pressing issues affecting the practice of the profession in the State.
He said that it is imperative before purchasing/selling land, to have professional survey the area, saying the land survey tells you the genuineness of the land and a lot about the property.
“Indeed, without a land survey, you can’t make informed decisions that will help you understand that the property offers, and its full value, and the cost of consulting a registered surveyor over land is by far cheaper compare to what you loose when you are eventually scammed over that land transaction, please, be wise, engage a registered surveyor, so as to avoid embarrassment, loose of land and other property”, he said
He added that a genuine surveyor must have a seal and registered stamps of operation in the course of their jobs, hinted the residents needs to look out for peculiar pillar numbers to registered surveyors for verification of such land before buying or selling.
Also, speaking, a member of Association of Practicing Surveyors of Nigeria (APSN), Surveyor Kayode Adekoya, urged the residents to always make an enquiry from a genuine surveyors before engaging in buying and selling of land, saying that survey plans date and other landed documents must not be backdated or doctored for any prospective clients.
In his early remarks, the Olu of Siun, Oba Lawrence Adisa Oyeyinka charged the NIS to intensify campaigns against quackery, describing the profession as a noble, which they shouldn’t allow any quackery actions to tarnish their image and integrity.
The monarch advised them to work professionally and shun sharp practices that could bring the professional into disrupt, saying that Siun kingdom is ready to work hand in glove, especially in the area of campaigning against shady practices and quackery.
Man Bags 2 Years Jail Term For Land Scam In Uyo
Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Wednesday March 15, 2022, convicted and sentenced Moses Asuquo Effiong to two years imprisonment for obtaining by false pretence.
Effiong was arraigned alongside two others by the Uyo Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on March 26, 2020 for selling a piece of land belonging to someone else. They had pleaded not guilty to the two count charge preferred against them. But when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday March 15, , Asuquo changed his plea to ‘guilty’.
One of the ccharges against the defendants reads: “That you Edwin Edet Etim (alias Anietie Udofia Ekanem), Joseph Essien Samuel, Moses Asuquo Effiong (alias Anietie Udofia Ekanem), Ibanga Bassey Bassey (at large) and Paulina Edem (at large) sometime in November 2019 at Uyo within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court with intent to defraud did conspire among yourselves to commit a felony to wit: obtaining money by false pretence in the sum of N6, 000, 000.00 ( Six Million Naira) only from Etuk Emmanuel Benjamin as payment for a land at Shelter Afrique Area of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State which pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act”.
In view of Effiong’s guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, Adebayo Suares urged the court to convict and sentence him, while others continued with the trial.
But Justice Okeke convicted Effiong and sentenced him to two years on each of the two counts, which will run concurrently from the date of his arrest.
Similarly, Justice Okeke convicted and sentenced Kalu Jonathan Uzochukwu a.k.a Kennedy Henry, an internet fraudster, to one month imprisonment from date of arrest, without the option of a fine.
Uzochukwu was arraigned by the Commission on March 11, 2022 on a one count charge bordering on cybercrime and money laundering.
The court also ordered him to restitute the sum of One Hundred and Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Naira(N112, 500.00) which he benefitted from the crime, and forfeit his iPhone 12 to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The charge against him read; “that you ‘Kalu Jonathan Uzochukwu a.k.a Kennedy Henry sometime in February, 2022 in Nigeria within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did use the sum of N112, 500.00 (One Hundred and Twelve Thousand , Five Hundred Naira only) knowing that the said sum is a proceed of unlawful act to wit: cybercrime and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (an amended ) and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act”.
Uzochukwu was among the internet fraudsters arrested by operatives of the Uyo Zonal Command of the Commission on February 12, 2022 at Nwaniba and Akaa Road, both in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
