Wike Blasts FCTA’s Agencies For Distorting Abuja’s Master Plan

Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike on Tuesday slammed some agencies for distorting Abuja’s Master Plan, accusing them of creating problems that left the administration with heavy financial burden.

The Minister said this in Abuja when he inaugurated a Ministerial task force on the Issuance of Certificate of Occupancy for
Mass Housing and the Recovery of land use contravention
fees.

Wike who particularly called out the Departments of Land, Urban and Regional Planning, Development Control and the Abuja Geographical Information System ( AGIS) for compromising standards and also bastardising the master plan, also drafted their heads into the committee.

The Minister practically charged the heads of these agencies ” to go and face the problems they created, and also solve the problems “.

He said: “Part of the problem we are having is the agencies: development control is part of the problem; the land registry is part of the problem; Abuja Geographic Information System AGIS is part of the problem. That is why they are part of the task force to face the problem they have caused and solve the problem. No outsider will do it.

“So, you must be diligent. Of course, you know, I will monitor what you are doing, and this assignment will not last more than one month from today”.

The Ministerial taskforce headed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Lands, Urban and Regional Planning, Michael Chinda, has the mandate to work and deliver results within one month.

According to the Minister, the taskforce was created to ensure that each of the houses in mass housing estates has its own C of O and pay for it.

Wike also directed the task force to ensure that those who contravened the Land Use Act must be recertified and pay penalties.

He explained that those given approval for residential buildings have converted to commercial structures, while those given for commercial also contravene by building residential houses.

“So, there must be a recertification and there must be penalties. The only way people can be deterred from doing this is to make sure that we discourage them and discouraging them means that if you want to build, you have a penalty to pay, and that penalty must be severe”.