By Sylvester Egede
The Ebonyi State House of Assembly has passed a bill for a law to regulate the sale of metal and electrical scraps, house rents and collection of agent fees by Professionals and Non Professionals in Ebonyi State and other matters connected thereto.
The passage of the bill into law took place at House of Assembly Complex Nkaliki Road during plenary session presided over by the Speaker Rt Hon Chief Moses Ije Odunwa .
The law deemed to have come into force on 11th August 2026 will be cited as Ebonyi State sale of Scraps, House rent and agent fees regulation law 2026.
The purpose of the law was to regulate the sale, possession, transportation and disposal of metal scraps and electrical scraps standardize house rents and curb excessive agent fees by both professionals and non professionals in the state.
The law prohibit buying, selling, possessing for sale, transport or disposal of metal scraps or electrical scraps except as a licensed dealer in accordance with regulations made under the law. The law stipulated that offenders shall have imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or fine not more than five hundred thousand naira
Under the law, any landlord who obtain an order for possession of any accommodation by fraud, misrepresentation or concealment of any material fact shall be guilty of an offence and liable to two years imprisonment and that the agents fees shall not be more than two percent of gross sum of such transaction.
From the commencement of the law, the standard rent prescribed by the Governor for the purpose of this law shall be payable in respect of the type of accommodation to which it applies and it is an unlawful for landlord to accept excess of standard rent prescribed.
The law futher stipulate that to ensure transparency, accountability and professionalism in property transactions, all estate agents operating within the capital city shall be registered with Ministry of Capital City.
Presenting the merit of the bill, the leader of the House Hon Kingsley Ogbonna Ikoro while appealing his colleagues to support the speedy passage of the bill said the law was designed to checkmate vandalism of public and private property, environmental degradation and exploitative practices in the housing sector.
In thier contributions, Hon Victor Nwoke representing Abakaliki North, Hon Nwodo Aloysius Nwodo representing Ebonyi North West, Hon Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali representing Afikpo East Hon Friday Ogbuewu representing Ezza South and Hon Celstine Ogba representing Onicha East Constituency described the the law as timely and necessary as it will curb the rising menace of scraps theft and arbitrary rent hikes.
In his remarks after the passage of the law, the Speaker Rt Hon Moses Ije Odunwa noted that scraps dealers have no conscience and that thier activities have caused havoc in the society adding that the law will promote public safety and restore sanity to property transactions in the state.
The bill which was exhaustively deliberated upon during the Committee of the whole was considered page by page where errors of syntax and morphology were corrected.
The result of the page by page consideration of the Executive Bill was the unanimous passage of the bill by the honourable members.
The House also considered and adopted Auditor General’s fi
report on the consolidated Financial Statement of Government of Ebonyi State of Nigeria for the year ended 31st December 2025.which was adjudged to be in tandem with accepted accounting principles.
Equally, the House screened and confirmed nine nominees of the State Governor, Rt Hon Builder Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru for the position of Cordinator and Members of management committee for Amasiri Development Centre in Afikpo Local Government Area.
The appointment followed the reinstatement of Amasiri Development Centre which was disbanded and delisted as Development Center in Ebonyi .
On behalf of the nominees, the cordinator Hon Baron Anya Ogbonna thanked Governor Francis Nwifuru forthe confidence reposed in them and pledged to ensure peace and development in the area.
