Land Grabbing: FCTA Demolishes Estates In Abuja

In a bid to put an end to the rising proliferation of illegal estates in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), officials of the FCT Administration have raided and demolished several estates in the residential part of the Idu Industrial Area in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

The FCTA officials mainly from the Department of Development Control accompanied by security operatives on Monday stormed and pulled down perimeter fencing and a few buildings at a different stages of construction at the sites of White City Estate, City Palace Estate and Prime Ville near the Idu Train station.

The director of the Development Control Department, Mukhtar Galadima, during the exercise, said the demolition was part of the measures to check instances of people just coming on a parcel land and allocate same to themselves without recourse to the relevant authorities of the government.

Galadima noted that most of them were fenced while some of them were about to start excavation, but their advertisements have gone around the globe, adding that the FCT Administration was seriously committed to seeing that it do away with such illegality.

He explained that the Department was discussing with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning,  which is the custodian of the Abuja Master Plan, to hasten and conclude the process of design of phase IV of the Federal Capital City (FCC), of which the affected area is part of.

“A month ago, we had a press briefing, where we intimated the citizens about the rising cases of land grabbing in the FCT, especially those using social media to advertise their commodity. So the removal exercise is part of the actualisation of our briefing on the menace.

“Today, we are at Idu Train Station, where we have seen instances of people just coming to parcel of land, and allocate it to themselves without recourse to the relevant authorities of the government, that is why we have to make good our promise that we are going to tackle the menace.

“The estates are uncountable because they just parcel and fence them. Everywhere has been fenced, that is why we have to nip it in the bud. And the longest marking here was done in 2018 or 2019, and since then, the developer has not continued to develop.

“It is part of the residential area that would support the Idu industrial area, so whatever people are doing now is just illegality. And we have been creating awareness on why people should not just buy land on social media as they should go to the right authorities to get things right. The FCT Administration is seriously committed to seeing that we do away with this kind of illegality,” he stressed.

He, however, warned that the exercise waa just the beginning of the demolition exercise, as they were returning on Tuesday to continue with adequate reinforcement and heavy-duty equipment to do the work.