The new minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyeson Wike has vowed that he would move fast to stop the age-long land speculation in Abuja and will also revoke the land whose owners have not developed till now.
The minister, who assumed office straight from the swearing-in at the Aso Rock Presidential villa, Abuja gathered some key top officials of the ministry to say: “let me tell you that the period of land racketeering is what? Over!
“And to those the government allocated land with C of O (Certificate of Occupancy) and they refused to develop it and have become land speculators, ehe, the land is gone. I’m going to revoke them. I will revoke them.”
Wike wondered how the government would give somebody a land to develop, and he probably paid N200,000 and such person would be looking for who would buy the same land at N2 billion or N3 billion, and asked: “who does that?
“We will take back our land and give it to those who want to develop it. And you must sign that you are going to develop it with certain period of time.”
The minister also vowed to demolish houses and structures that are erected on green areas and those that distort the original master plan of Abuja.
“If you know built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down; be you minister somewhere, be you ambassador. If you know you have developed where you are not supposed to develop, your house must go what? Down!
Those who have taken over the green areas to build (structures), sorry, our parks must come back. The green areas must come back.
“So, if you know anybody who is involved in taking over green areas and parks to now do restaurant, no! We will not accept that.
“Sorry, if your father has done that, sorry. If your mother has done that, sorry. There is nothing I can do. It will go down.”
Wike, who is the immediate past Governor of River State under the People’s Democratic party (PDP), stressed the urgent need to address the environmental issues around the federal capital.
“We must sit down to look at what we can do differently on waste disposal. It is very very key.”