The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama has blamed the Nigerian High Commission in Accra Ghana, for not obtaining title documents for the land which it paid for since 2000.
He however said that the mistakes were not enough for the demolition of the building inside the country’s High Commission.
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Onyeama who briefed journalists on the resolution reached with Ghana on the issue said the Nigerian High Commission in Accra Ghana also failed to obtain the required approval before building on the site.
The minister said Ghanaian government has assumed responsibility for the demolition and has assured that it will re-erect the building to its original level.
“It was clearly a mistake on our side.
“What the Ghanians said is that owing to the fact that our High Commission did not obtain a lease following the allocation letter they got after being paid for the plot of land, nor did we proceed to obtain land title certificate and we didn’t even get building permit for the new property
“When other people came claiming ownership of the land, the commission did not see anything in the register because the lease title had not been obtained.
“It is clearly an error on the side of our embassy,” the minister stated.
Onyeama noted that the embassy would learn from the mistake and sharpen its documenting and record keeping process.
He said the error happened in 2000, and the officers who erred are probably no longer in service.
He also said that the Ghanaian government has directed that the necessary administrative procedures that were not followed initially should be done, stressing that “the title deeds formerly be given to the High Commission of Nigeria since the documentary proof acknowledged by the Ghanaian land registry of receipt of payment on the property has been done many years ago”.
“The government of Ghana has assumed total responsibility and with the apology have made it clear that they would be responsible for restitution- rebuilding the building to the state when it was before destroyed.
“This is to say that the matter has been satisfactorily resolved and at very highest level
“Those who carried out the action have been arrested and are being charged in court” he stated.
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