Public Agencies To Get Land In Abuja On Condition Of Development -Wike

By: Wisdom Acka

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has said that he would only allocate land to public agencies on condition that it would be developed within an agreed period of time.

Wike disclosed that part of his new land policy is includes the requirement for an undertaken by any interested agency to that effect, including payment of ground rent.

He said this when he received a delegation from the Nigeria Customs Service led by the Acting Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, in Abuja, Thursday.

His words: “Our bpolicy now is that, before we give land to any agency, it must commit that it will develop the land within a certain number of years and if not developed, the FCT should take back the land.”

“We will not allocate land that will lay to thy kingdom come. So, you must convince me that you are indeed really serious about building schools for the children of your staff and our children,” he said.

“Schools, very important. It is not only the children of Customs officers that will attend the schools”, he stated.

The Minister insisted that another condition for him to allocate land to the Service was for it to pay ground rent as at when due.

“Be rest assured that I am going to approve the land for the school. You bring the application, I will sign it and give it to the Director of Lands to give the land that you can use,” Wike assured.

On the request by the Acting Comptroller-General for return of its revoked land, Wike stated that it would appear unserious if the FCT Administration returned the land and would also encourage other organisations to come with similar requests.

Promising to look into the request to see if they could pay a penalty, Wike assured them that he would honour their request for land allocation to build a school, and support to the Service to achieve its aims and objectives.

Earlier, the Customs Boss explained that the visit was to congratulate Wike on his appointment and commend the laudable works he has done so far.

Adeniyi stated that the Service was a critical stakeholder in the FCT with more than 2,000 officers residing in the FCT and contributing to the development of the city.

He, however, said that not all the officers’ children could access public schools; stressing the need to provide quality education to their children.