GOVERNMENT SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The attention of the Rivers State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has been drawn to activities of touts and miscreants posing as officials and taskforces of the Ministry in parts of Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor to defraud the public.
The touts and miscreants have been seen around Waterlines, Garrison, Rumuola, Eleme Junction and Rumuokoro axis harassing and extorting property owners, land developers, motorists and other unsuspecting members of the public.
For the avoidance of doubts, the Honourable Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Rt. Hon. Evans Bipi had since dissolved all Committees and Taskforces of the Ministry and he is yet to reconstitute them.
We therefore urge the general public to raise alarm and report to the nearest security agency if anyone or group of persons come to them as Taskforce or officials of the Ministry demanding to see their building plan approval or for payment over purported non-compliance with the State’s Physical Planning Development Law.
Property owners and developers are hereby urged not to accept Demand Notice or engage in transactions with individuals or groups claiming to represent the Ministry, as doing so will be at their own risk.
The law enforcement agencies have been duly notified to go after the touts and miscreants harassing and extorting the public using the name of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development with a view to bringing them to book.
Signed:
Surveyor Wisdom Hebron,
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development,
For the Honourable Commissioner,
22nd October, 2024.
