Massive demolition looms as FCTA insists on removing housing estates in Apo, Lugbe

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has warned residents of Idu Train Station, Apo Tapi, and Lugbe areas of the Abuja Metropolitan Area Council (AMAC) about the proliferation of unlawful housing estates and other development .

The FCTA, through the Department of Development Control (DDC), said that it had already served all pertinent notifications, marked the structures, and was preparing to launch a significant removal operation when the time was right.

The alarm became necessary, according to DDC Director, Mukhtar Galadima, who made this statement during a news conference on Friday because of the escalating advertisements on social media by land grabbers and illegal developers of housing estates.

Galadima hinted that these areas had not yet been detailed with design layout, but people were carrying fake title documents that they had been allocated by AMAC.

He added that it was against the development rules and regulations for somebody while in the course of implementing his or her plan to change it without recourse to seeking approval for a modified plan.

He further stated that with the constitution of FCT Urban and Planning Tribunal, land grabbing and other menace would be reduced, as there would be prosecution of defaulters.

He also hinted that developers of illegal structures and land grabbers would be made to pay for the cost of demolition and afterwards be handed over to Police for diligent prosecution.

According to Galadima: “Our attention has been drawn to some areas of the city where people are developing without any title developments. And we want to educate the public and to inform them that some of these adverts are on illegal developments.

“As the department of Development Control in FCT, we found it expedient to adequately inform the citizens on the need to secure building plan and approval, to enable them develop inline with what is being approved.

“We know that in the course of implementing development proposals there are rooms for modifications, adjustments and the wisest thing to do is to resubmit the design and seek for approval before changing any aspect of the approved plan, failure to do so is an apparition of what was really approved for the developer.

“But, I would like to reiterate that all illegal developments along the Idu Train Station, Apo Tapi and Lugbe Areas, where people are busy spending money, and unsuspecting Nigerians are subscribing to these housing estates, we are saying now these are illegal developments, and we have served all relevant notices, so at an appropriate time, we are going to remove them.”