A TRIBE in Nadi desperately looking for land has approached Lands Ministry officials who conducted the face to face consultations last week.
Rusiate Waqa, of the yavusa Nadi of Namotomoto Village told this newspaper some members of his tribe had scattered to other parts of the country looking for land on which to settle.
He said some tribal members had settled at Naibalebale Village on Viwa, Lauwaki Village and Waya in the Yasawa Group while some lived in Yanuya Village on Malolo.
Mr Waqa claimed their land, which is located near Denarau Island, was illegally sold during the colonial era some 130 years ago and was now registered under the State.
"The main purpose of coming to this conference is to seek the assistance of the government to lease this parcel of land to us," he said.
"We don't have enough land at Namotomoto and this has also forced some of our affected families to move into temporary squatter settlements at Vitogo and Tavakubu and other areas in Lautoka.
"In fact, it has been confirmed by the iTaukei Land and Fisheries Commission that the land belongs to the yavusa Nadi consisting of two mataqali landowning units in Botiluvuka of Namotomoto and Vucunisai clan which now resides in Malolo, Waya and Viwa.
"I am grateful that I have managed to raise this issue with the right authority for us to lease land."
Lands Ministry permanent secretary Tevita Boseiwaqa said the ministry would treat all requests and queries with urgency.
"We are aware of the request made by the Nadi clan and we will get back to them once we are ready with our findings.
"All complaints made during these consultations will be seriously looked into and all cases treated with urgency."