Wed, 11/07/2012 ? 1:08am | LEADERSHIP EDITORIAL Editorial
If Federal Capital Territory minister Bala Mohammed has received the instruction of President Goodluck Jonathan to alter the Abuja master plan ?in the public interest?, as he stated recently, then, the current plan of the Federal Capital Development Authority to demolish 19 villages in the territory cannot be justified. It is in the public?s interest to have a city where thousands of people are not driven to sleep under bridges or in bushes or in schools. Demolition of people?s homes without providing alternative shelter for them is inhuman and therefore unacceptable. Places demolished in the past have not been developed, even though the plots have been shared by the rich and the powerful. Is this not oppression of the poor?
The indigenes and other poor residents of Abuja ? the targets of the planned demolitions ? have protested enough. It is now time for the FCT Administration to listen to the voice of reason and stop killing the poor in instalments. Abuja must not be inhabited by the rich alone. Each year, billions of naira are earmarked for the resettlement of Abuja indigenes, but nothing seems to happen. Do the funds go astray? If the indigenes have been settled, why do the bulldozers spare their homes but demolish those built by ?non-indigenes? in the same villages?
The Nigerian governments must be condemned for their lack of human feeling. Left to the FCT authorities, low-income earners can never build their own homes in Abuja. Yet, all that is required to ease the burden of homelessness in a city like Abuja is the political will to do what is right. Lands allocated since 1980 have not been developed because they were given to mainly government officials and their fronts who turn speculators. Army generals, directors, permanent secretaries, governors, party chieftains and other people of influence are often allotted several hectares which they sell many years after their retirement ? when the areas become ?hot cake?. It is not surprising that such privileged few are the owners of houses in Maitama, Garki, Asokoro and now Jabi districts. The poor and the unknown hardly get plots even in remote areas, after paying the necessary fees and waiting for 20 long years.
This conspiracy of the elite is not sustainable. While there is a provision, in every right of occupancy, for the allottee to develop his plot within two or three years or risk having the right revoked, the authorities hardly do anything. Accordingly, land speculators have a field day while those seeking to build their own homes immediately do not get land allocations. Those with allocations cannot develop their plots because the FCT Development Control department takes delight in frustrating seekers of building plan approval. Besides, amenities like power, water and roads that could draw residents are not provided in most areas. It is not surprising that such injustice has forced many to build houses on land sold to them by the local chiefs.
Our stance against demolition of people?s homes without providing an alternative has not changed. Government should embark on low-cost housing schemes for the poor. The FCT Administration should provide the necessary infrastructure so that allottees can build houses on their plots. And if approval of building plans has become rocket science, prototype housing should be designed for all. All Abuja indigenes should be resettled. Until these are done, no house should be demolished again.
