|
BNW |
|
B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
We won�t revoke FCT C of Os � El-Rufai � 700 more houses to be demolished in Abuja
FRIDAY OLOKOR FEDERAL Capital Territory(FCT) Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday said 700 more buildings in Abuja and its environs would be demolished in line with the on-going exercise to address the anomalies engendered by wrong acquisition of lands in Abuja. He also explained that contrary to reports, the FCT Ministry was not revoking the certificates of occupancy (C of Os) of land owners but rather changing the titles and C of Os to tally with its current efforts aimed at certifying genuine land ownership. El-Rufai, who addressed newsmen on the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) in Lagos, said as had always been the case, there would be no sacred cow in the onslaught on the violators of Abuja masterplan. Said he: "There is no landlord in Abuja as you have in Lagos. The constitution vests all lands in the FCT on the minister. Nobody can sell land without the consent of the ministry because all lands in Abuja belong to the Federal Government. "If you buy any land, you have a useless paper until the FCT Ministry issues you consent. Apart from the 300 houses that has been taken over, no fewer than 700 houses would be demolished in Abuja and its environs like Kubwa and Bwari." El-Rufai, who insisted that all the houses threatening the safety of Abuja would be destroyed, hinted that the ministry is targeting N10 billion revenue or at least N5 billion as violation charges to serve as a deterrent to others but, however, said since revenue-generation is not the primary thing, people should comply with the law rather than paying the violation charges. According to him, President Olusegun Obasanjo has given him the mandate to clean up the FCT in the area of land administration, illegal award of contracts and corruption among staff of the ministry. He said based on the menace of those who indulge in illegal allocation of land and printing of fake certificates of occupancy, the ministry has withdrawn all the certificates issued since its creation while another one is billed to be delivered from August 1, 2004. Deputy Director in the FCT Ministry, Dr. Ismaila Iroh, said of the 105,701 applications for land allocation received, 21,420 were granted while 84,281 remains pending. This, he said, is one of the findings of the task force set up for the exercise as last April, 2004. A breakdown shows that Anambra State has the highest application with 6,861 while Bayelsa State got the lowest � 277. The highest number of Cs of O was from Kano State with 963 while Adamawa had the least. Iroh identified ministers, legislators, governors, traditional rulers, bankers, professionals, touts, clergymen, the media, directors and even the dead as violators of land acquisition. |
|
||||||||||||
