My friends who got those plot all want to start developing but are very confused, their hard earned monies up to the tune of $120,000.00 at $400.00 each applicant has been kept by AGIS, plots of lands were allocated but they cannot develop….What is going on in this law-less and insanely corrupt country of ours called Nigeria?
Dear Editor,
When is someone going to do an article asking AGIS, FCT Minister and Mr. President and Hon. Abike Dabiri of the Diaspora Committee in the House/ whoever is of the Senate what ever happened to the Lands Allocated to the Diasporans at the Disapora Village, Pyakasa-Abuja.
My friends who got those plot all want to start developing but are very confused, their hard earned monies up to the tune of $120,000.00 at $400.00 each applicant has been kept by AGIS, plots of lands were allocated but they cannot develop….What is going on in this law-less and insanely corrupt country of ours called Nigeria?
This is actually my first time coming across your site and I like already and I will be a loyal reader, however I want to see you ask and prod a lot on behalf of all the diasporans.
I am forwarding some other emails that would help you better understand and put a story together.
I look forward to reading something on your pages soon.
Thank you,
Shaibu.
Ministerial committee on repositioning of land administration in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has said that the major factor responsible for the disarray in land administration in the FCT was the current state of the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS).
The committee noted that the project after seven years was still at infancy, thereby leaving a gap for manipulation of land information systems, adding that incomprehensive and incomplete computerization project as was the case in AGIS was worse than a manual system.
Similarly, the committee disclosed that out of 18,445 plots allocated from January 2007 to April 2010 in the FCT, only 445 or 2.5 per cent of the entire allocation has been developed.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Saidu Dansadau, at the presentation of the report of the committee to the minister.
He said during the course of the assignment, it was discovered that 12,816 plots were allocated during the last five months of Malam Nasir el-Rufai’s administration, while 1,040 and 4,598 were allocated during Dr. Aliyu Modibbo and Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero’s administration respectively.
Dansadau explained that the land use breakdown for the period was 16,442 for residential, 976 for commercial, 550 for mixed use, 259 for public institutions, 116 industrial, 47 for open space and green area, 32 for transportation, 15 for public utility and eight for agricultural purpose.
According to the committee chairman, mass housing allocation during the period was also reviewed and records available to the committee indicate that “254 sites of Mass Housing Scheme were allocated during the tenure of Malam Nasir el-Rufai. 126 allocations cover a land area of 2,506.59 hectares, while 128 allocations had no specification of land area allocated.
“Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero allocated 71 mass housing sites to 43 companies in Phase III and IV, covering a land mass of 2,156.44 hectares, four out of the 43 allottees have a total area of 927.84 hectares. There was no Mass Housing allocation during the tenure of Dr. Aliyu Modibbo”.
He maintained that while it was discovered that the phenomenon of double and multiple allocations, as well as forgery and falsification of records had become a behemoth of monstrous proportions, review had shown that revocation of plots without regard to due process especially with non-compliance with Section 28 of Land Use Act and complicity on the part of some FCT officials who were responsible for the menace.
Dansadau lamented that while the Mass Housing Scheme was created to make homes accessible to residents of the FCT, the objective was still far from being realized , as the scheme had given land speculators an upper hand at the expense of genuine property developers with track record of performance in the sector.
“It is the belief of this committee that making land directly available to industry players and staff cooperatives could bring down the escalating cost of houses for the benefit of the middle and low income earners,” he said.
He expressed hope that other recommendations of the committee as contained in the report with specific recommendations on how to address various challenges with respect to each term of reference that constitutes impediment to efficient land administration in the FCT, would be looked into.
In his response, the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, assured the committee that the report would be accorded the deserved attention and that decisive action would be taken promptly to address the recommendations.
While noting that his administration enjoyed the political will to implement any far reaching decision based on the report, he said; “Your recommendation for the establishment of new institutions and administrative organs to fill existing administrative and implementation lacuna, is most welcome and shall be given prompt and adequate consideration.
“Appropriate organisational audit shall be embarked upon where necessary to revamp some of these ailing institutions and we shall not hesitate to create new ones within the ambit of the law”.
He emphasised that the administration would go to any length to bring to book whoever is found guilty in the process saying,;”We must do what we must do and in doing it we don’t care whose cupboard is opened but we are not after the skeletons in the cupboard. We just want to make sure that the cupboards stand where they should”.
Mohammed, who expressed deep concern over the 6,000 land allottees awaiting reallocation, promised to dedicate a reasonable percentage of all land allocations during his tenure to provide alternative plots to this category of victims.
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