Government Pays Compensation to Business Owners at Holy Ghost Bus Terminal, Provides Alternative Locations.
Enugu State Government, after a town-hall meeting between the Ministry of Transportation and the property and business owners at the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s land over 8 months ago, has fulfilled its promise of paying compensation to the affected property and business owners.
This meeting which called for a series of negotiations and discussions on the proposed development of a world-class Transport Interchange (Enugu Central Station), alongside other innovative facilities at the Holy Ghost axis, was concluded with the government promising to compensate affected owners.
Some of the beneficiaries, who confirmed payments on Monday, said the state government had, in addition to monetary compensations, also provided temporary locations for them to carry on their businesses pending the completion of the project.
Mr Udoka Aku, a transport owner said, “I just received confirmation from my bank notifying me about the clearance of a huge sum of money from the Enugu State Government. At first, I thought it was the usual scam from internet fraudsters until I visited the bank.
We have already relocated to the temporary site provided for us by the state government after we were notified by the railway corporation authority that the state government had taken the land in the overriding public interest.
I want to thank Governor Peter Mbah for the compensation. I didn’t believe that the government would even do anything,”
Another business owner, Chief Ignatius Okpara, also made a statement concerning this.
The business owner who said the Railway Property Management had leased some portion of its land to him for business, mentioned that the Enugu State Government engaged them sometime in October 2023 on its plan to construct a modern transport interchange on the land as part of its urban regeneration strategy, a means of eliminating the traffic jams and hardships motorists face in the area and to address the longstanding security issues and criminal activities in that axis.
He said, “At first, some of us were sad; however, during our discussions with the railway management and the state governor on the options available to us and the fact that compensations would be paid; we accepted it in good faith. This was followed by another letter from Railway Property Management Company Ltd, sometime this year, which came as a notice of recovery of railway land on Market Road.
“I had no option but to start relocating because the project is good and will benefit everyone. Besides, all of us who had property there were even given the right of first refusal after the completion of the terminal. To God be the glory, my bank reached out to me about some money that the state government was crediting to my account. I want to appreciate the governor for not abandoning us,”
Some of the business owners also spoke about it, one of them said, “Yes, we were invited by Governor Peter Mbah for discussion. We were about 29 in number, including Onitsha South Transport Company, Anaocha South Mass Transit, Chisco Transport Company, Farm Associates Limited, Dozzy Oil Limited, A.C. Decanal Limited, Harco Oil, Nigerian Red Cross, Pilgrimage Sisters (Osisatech), Okeyson Transport Limited, MDS Logistics, FCMB, Ecobank and others, and we had fruitful discussions as the state government gave us the right of first refusal and other compensations. I’m still here because I feel I will easily switch to my new place any time the government comes.”
One of the transport managers also stated that the Chairman of Chisco Transport Ltd, Dr. Chidi Anyaegbu, who represented affected transport owners in the area, said that the Transport Infrastructure Project would enhance efficiency and profitability for transporters if it’s completed on time.