FCT Demolitions to Correct Infractions of Master Plan, Says Minister

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Mohammad Musa Bello, has pronounced that the sleuth of demolitions in Abuja is to correct infractions of the city’s master plan.

Bello summed up this position yesterday while interacting with reporters in relation to the ongoing demolition exercises in the territory.

The minister, who thumped up the task team on city sanitation, however, ruled out compensation for owners of illegal structures.

He said that the FCT administration would pay compensation for any land or structure legally acquired by authorities to provide infrastructure or public facilities.

He said that most of the infractions happened during COVID-19 lockdown, when the inability of the inspectorate staff to cover the city gave room for lot of people to start erecting illegal structures.

“The policies and guidelines for building in FCT is very clear and well documented, the laws are there. What we are doing is basically to remove infringements on the issue of compensation will not arise because everything is illegal. For instance, people decide to build on the road corridors and in most cases some of this building you will see that the administration might have given many notices to them but they still went ahead to build the illegal structures, so we keep demolishing,” he vowed.

He, however, said that the FCT’s administration would pay compensation as part of urban renewal and upgrade if it is demolishing buildings either to expand the road corridors or create facilities for essential services for social services.