IMPORTANT NOTICE

What is it about land allocation and administration in the Federal Capital Territory that cannot be solved? Looking at the reports since 1991 when Lagos ceased to be the capital city, it has been one sorry tale of continuous policy reversals, recertification revocations, land grabs, sharp practices, the fuss about resettlement and rehabilitation of aboriginal inhabitants and distortions of the Abuja Master Plan. From people who build in the so-called “green areas” to senators who preside over committees on land matters in which they have vested interests to land speculators and racketeers, land administration in the FCT has been a complicated practice where succeeding administrations  like to accuse the preceding one of irresponsibility. With all the scandalous “committees and panel of enquiries” findings, one is forced to believe it’s a man-know-man kind of real estate practice in the FCT and a person watching from a distance must be a bit perplexed.

For instance, In June 2010 the Federal Executive Council approved the revocation of plots of land in the Central Business District of Abuja earmarked for the Boulevard project promoted by another former minister of the FCT, Dr. Aliyu Modibo and also approved the return of plots taken away from foreign missions on account of failure to develop within specified time by the administration of Mallam Nasir el- Rufai. In 2009, the Senate had endorsed the revocation of landed property it claimed were illegally transferred by erstwhile Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other friends of the former minister. During a recent Senate hearing, it was also discovered that Dr Aliyu Modibo and members of his family allegedly got six plots of land in the FCT, measuring about 9867 square metres. In September 2008, the former FCT minister had also signed away plots of land to influential members of the ruling party in what was famously dubbed the “real estate bazaar.” Incidentally, one of the allottees Senator Abubakar Sodangi was later saddled with the responsibility of maintaining an oversight function on housing in the FCT. According to Yahaya Yusuf, a former acting director of the  

Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) Senator Sodangi helped himself and his family to 20 choice plots within the FCT. 

Meanwhile, the phenomenon of double/multiple allocations, forgery and falsification of records and other government action has seen more than 6,000 allottees  loss their land allocations.  In July 2009, an Abuja High Court finally restored a property in the Asokoro area of the Federal Capital Territory to its true owner, Alhaji Idris Zago. Mallam El-Rufai had revoked the said plot and reallocated it to one of his aides. Nullifying the reallocation, Justice Aladetoyinbo said:  “...It is against public policy for a sitting minister to revoke right of occupancy of another citizen of Nigeria and re-allocate same land to his Chief of Staff”

Why this continuous flip flop on Abuja Land?
According to Mr Nnaemeka Odoh, an Abuja based real estate surveyor, getting a plot of land in Abuja is cumbersome and is akin to digging for gold. For Mr Odoh, the activities of quacks, land speculators and other shady practices within the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) make it difficult to really trust anybody to deliver on deals. Of course, land administration in Abuja is not different from what it is elsewhere, at least in principle.  By virtue of the Land Use Act of 1978, all lands in Abuja are vested in the FCT Minister and legislation on land matters rest with the National Assembly (as the FCT does not have a legislature of its own.) Before the creation of the AGIS, investors and developers had to somehow “fend” for themselves which meant that only those who knew somebody in authority got plot allocations. The result was the numerous cases of multiple allocation, racketeering, revocations and demolition. Since then, a few steps have been taken to sanitize the land administration in the FCT like the creation of the AGIS and the FCT Land Use Reforms Act (though still fraught with irregularities.)

In a fitting epitaph to this story last week, the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed was reported to have said that allocation of land in Abuja has been suspended. This would allow the FCT Administration take stock of previous allocations and reorganise the process. All should get ready for another round of revocations and reallocations!