CBN House Of Horror: Multi-billion Naira Property Turns Hideout for Hoodlums, Rapists and Wild Animals in Ibadan.

*Community Cries Out for help.

These properties were built with public funds. Today, most Federal Government Properties in Nigeria are either abandoned or underused. These national statues are now in ruins and threats to security. Some of these abandoned properties have been hijacked by weeds, rodents, wild animals and reptiles, while also serves as abodes for hoodlums, miscreants, armed robbers, kidnappers and the likes, this is exactly the true picture of the Central Bank of Nigeria property at Owode Estate, Apata, Ibadan, in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State.

The multi-billion naira property in question owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria has been abandoned for over two decades. Mega Icon Magazine investigations revealed that the property was designed and aimed at providing housing scheme to the staff of CBN. It was also established that the speedily completed Quarters had never accommodated any occupant, even for once, up till date.

Visit to this abandoned, neglected site shows the parlous, pathetic and deplorable situation of the property that could have accommodated an estimated figure of about 10,000 people conveniently.

subsequent to the total neglect and insensitivity of the Federal Government, the property now poses great security risks to residents of the community.

Speaking with one of the community leaders, Deacon Idowu Aladejobi expresses his displeasure about this ugly situation. Aladejobi further stated that the abandoned property has constituted security risks to the community, “we discovered that CBN normally come to the site to burn their refuse (currencies) almost on a daily basis, which is an environmental hazard and injurious to the community.

He stated that the property has also been turned in to a safe haven by rapists who hide in the bushy environment to lure and rape their daughters with reckless abandonment.

 

 

According to him, men of the underworld also use the abandoned property as hideout to strategize and plan on how to carry out their evil operations, “they always come out of the place to attack and rob the community, this is very dishearten”, he lamented.

Though, one would bewildered with the ease at which CBN abandons its assets to decay still baffles many, other people perceive the problem as misapplied, misconceived, wrongly executed policies and absence of complete honesty in the management.

Stressing further , Aladejobi said the community has taken bold steps by writing the CBN consistently, both the Ibadan Branch and Headquarters in Abuja to curtail this malady.

“ Even former governors of the Bank, Professor Soludo and Mr. Sanusi also came to inspect the property, we thought when they came, they would be able to address the issue, but unfortunately, it is to no avail”, he decried.

He advised the CBN to investigate and appraise the matter, probably release the property to the Local Government, State Government or better still, sell to private individuals, so as to meet other community needs and serve the people.

In a related development, a former President of the Association, Pa. Lawrence Abayomi Kupoluyi make plain the rich history of the abandoned CBN property that should have make the deserted project stand out as a national monument or major source of revenue, but suffers neglect or underutilization.

Kupoluyi in his reaction said that the community had taken several steps to ensure that the place is turned to a useful legacy, “we had written letters to CBN and Housing Corporation on this issue, yet nothing has been done, it is inhuman, our hope is dashed as the residents suffer neglect, we have been dehumanized”, he lamented.

Mega Icon Magazine learnt  that the abandoned property has been turned to a game reserve where wild  animals, including python dwell while corpses are buried at the place since there is nobody to challenge those people who have turned the place into a grave yard.

“A former Nigerian diplomat son, Ambassador Maiyaki was brutally attacked in the Estate by hoodlums who use the site as a hideout and since then, the man had never returned to Nigeria, he is psychologically affected”, another aggrieved resident declared.

Mega Icon Magazine  checks further unearthed that different investors had approached the CBN, including Universities, but they never responded.

The leaders, however called on the Oyo State Government and relevant authorities to come to their rescue and save the community before it is too late.

 

By Idowu Ayodele.