NEWLY inaugurated Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has, on his first day in office, threatened to demolish illegally built houses and revoke ownership of some pieces of land.
He disclosed this during his inaugural briefing after he was sworn in as Minister along with 44 others in Abuja on Monday, August 21.
“All those people who are distorting the master plan of Abuja, too bad. Too bad. If you know you have built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down. Be you minister of anywhere, be an ambassador; if you know you have developed where you are not supposed to develop, your house must go down. Those who have taken over the green areas to build, sorry,” he said.
He noted that lands which have not been developed for prolonged periods would be allocated to other residents who will sign contracts indicating that they would be put to use within a specified time.
“All these people who are doing land racketing, let me tell you, that period of land racketing is over. Those the government has given C of O allocated lands to them, they refuse to develop, and they are becoming land speculators; the land is gone. I’m going to revoke them,” Wike said.
Wike promised that insecurity in the FCT would be addressed and security agencies supported to carry out their duties during his administration.
He warned FCT residents that random situations of markets would no longer be tolerated.
“What we want is results, and that must be done. If we don’t safeguard this place, then we’re in problem. Look at people stealing manholes and this and that. Who is responsible? Where are the security people? So something must be done to curtail this. The issue of security is the aim for us. Mr President has told me, whatever is required, we must make sure Abuja is safe,” he said.
Demolition of structures has been commonplace within the FCT. Several residents have lost homes and businesses to the exercises, mostly due to the construction of buildings on illegally acquired land.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.