BUA Group has reacted to a threat by the Kogi House of Assembly to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on a 50,000-hectare land it acquired 10 years ago.
According to the organization, it is no longer interested in the land it acquired from the Kogi government in 2012.
The disclosure was made in a letter dated October 14, 2022, and addressed to the director-general of the state’s bureau of lands and urban development.
In the letter, Bua Group said that the company had never taken possession of the land.
It also said it could not utilise the land due to lack of infrastructure and security challenges present in the state.
“Since our invitation by the state in 2012 to invest through that land, there has been no visible effort by the state and successive governments till date, to address the issue of access (i.e. infrastructure, roads) that will enable us utilise the land for its intended purpose.”
Further, the letter read: “Currently, the land is only accessible by water and without the required investments and other enabling infrastructure, the venture will not be feasible.
“There has been a massive deterioration of security in and around the area for the past few years making it practically impossible to start any project there as an investor.
“Due to the reasons enumerated above, and the fallout associated with it, we, hereby, wish to indicate through this letter, and inform you that we are no longer interested in continuing with our proposed investment,” the letter added.
“We wish to however state unequivocally that had we decided to proceed with the proposed project, BUA would have been happy to pay all dues and necessary compensation to the state and other stakeholders in line with our obligations.
“This is because as a responsible organisation, we believe in the principles of equity, sustainable business practices, and fairness.
“This has been the hallmark of our operations and engagements with communities and governments, everywhere we operate,” another portion of the letter read.
Further, BUA Group said it had conducted feasibility studies on the land and found out that only about 30 percent of the entire land mass is suitable for its investment with the rest – 66 percent – consisting of rocky, hilly and undulating areas which is not suitable for its intended purpose.
The company, therefore, said it was no longer interested in investing in the property.
BUA Group added that since the land cannot be used for its intended purpose, the Kogi government “may go ahead to revoke the land if it so wishes”.
Recall that we had earlier reported that the Kogi house of assembly summoned BUA Group to explain “why it refused to pay for the land and why it refused to compensate the community involved”.
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