El-Rufa'is Demolition Exercise: Issues and Observations for Policy By Hassan Garba
In a recent interview
conducted by Weekly Trust of Feb. 14 – 20 2004
, The Honorable Minister of the
Prominent among the reasons
he proffered are the
choice of Abuja
as an alternative capital to Lagos
,
which had become overcrowded
for a capital city
befitting it’s status, the
violation of the “
I must commend the Honorable
Minister for his honesty
in admitting that “a lot
has gone wrong in phase one
of the Federal Capital
development plan” and that he
is looking into it. The
steps he is taking is in the
right direction, as it is
his duty as the custodian of
the Federal Capital to
safeguard and protect the
sanctity of the Abuja
master plan in order to give
Nigerians a Capital
This category of
people did not come into I also implore him to temper justice with mercy by paying compensation to all deserving victims of the demolition (i.e. those with genuine certificates of occupancy or other legal proof of ownership of land) before their houses are pulled down. This compensation should be in form of money and the allocation of alternative plot of lands in the proposed new development areas. This step will go along way in alleviating the sufferings of these people and also promote the spirit of private sector ownership / initiative that our new democracy preaches. The Honorable Minister should also use all the powers at his disposals to dig deep into the past record of the FCDA with a view to investigating all the cases of corruption / illegal land deals that took place there and to identify the people involved and their levels of involvement. Such people should also be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other people, whose only interest in the FCT is to sell off every inch of the land in order to acquire ill-gotten wealth. If possible, the anti-corruption commission or the economic and financial crime commission EFCC should come in handy in helping to achieve the desired objectives. This way we can be sure that our future development plans are not tempered with. HASSAN GARBA PELLA
MALALI –
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