Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has sacked Hajiya Jamila Tangaza who has been the Director of the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) from the regime of former minister, Bala Mohammed.
The sack also affects almost all the Directors in the Federal Capital Administration, including that of Land Administration.
A statement by the ministry’s spokesman, Muhammad Hazat Sule, said that the minister immediately appointed the replacements for the sacked Directors.
They are Dr. Isa Jalo who took over from Jamila as Director of the AGIS even as Adamu Hussaini Jibrin as Director of Land Administration. Others are Ali Alhaji Ukele as Director of Parks & Recreation while Mukhtar Galadima Usman is for the Development Control.
Imande Victoria is the new Director of Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD); Obiechina Helen Nneka is Director of Resettlement & Compensation; Ahmed Zalihau as Director of Urban & Regional Planning; Dr. Okoroukwu Humphery as Director of Public Health; Mrs. Jogai Cerie as Director of Archives & History Bureau and Olaloye Marufu Omoniyi as Director of Facilities Maintenance & Management.
Abubakar Yahaya is now the Secretary, Urban & Regional Planning Tribunal, while Mrs. Ohamma Perpetual Ndawii now takes charge as the Deputy Director, Planning & Resettlement, in the Resettlement & Compensation Department.
The minister directed all Deputy Directors currently in the Departments of Land Administration and Development Control who have been removed from their posts to report to the Department of Establishment and Training for further posting instructions.
He instructed that former Deputy Director/ Land Registrar in Land Administration Department should report to Legal Services Secretariat for posting even as he said that the changes are with immediate effect. He asked that all handing and taking over formalities should be completed before Friday.
Meanwhile, the minister has called on legal practitioners and other residents of the Federal Capital Territory to consider alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in resolving the numerous land cases that are currently pending in FCT Courts.
The Minister who received in audience, the officials of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abuja Chapter, in his office said that protracted land disputes have given negative perception of Nigeria as a very difficult place to do business, among the international community.
The Minister insisted that some of the land cases could have been settled if there had been adequate discussions for out of court settlements, saying: “some of the cases that are pending in court are cases that could really be sorted out just by discussions and that is why we have to encourage alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for these issues to be settled out of court.”
Muhammad Bello assured that institutions within the FCT Administration would be strengthened to take care of noticeable lapses and promote due process in handling all land related matters.
He said that the focus of the FCT Administration, among others, is to make the process of doing business much easier in order to move Nigeria’s level on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index to a better level than what it is today.
“We want to move by at least 20 points from where we are now and we realized that land related transactions constitute a very important measure of how systems are judged, whether they are efficient and user friendly or not.”
He congratulated the NBA for the successful conduct of its national elections as well as the unique introduction of e-voting, saying that the NBA has always been in the forefront of bringing change in the country.
“We have many of your members within the various departments of the FCT Administration and for those that I have been able to have close contacts with, I have found them to be very professional, very hard working and above all, very conscious of what society expects of them as lawyers.”
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Unity Branch of NBA, Barrister Ezenwa Anumnu lauded the achievements of the FCT Administration.
“We are in touch with the common people in FCT and I can assure you that the responses are positive and encouraging.” [myad]
Advertisement
