Sale Of Federal Govt Houses: FCTA Threatens Revocation Over Landuse Change

By: Wisdom Acka

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened revocation of all houses arbitrarily converted to other uses in Abuja.

Recall that becuase of high cost of maintenance, the Federal Government sold its non-essential residential houses in 2007, and most of the the public servants occupying the houses acquired them.

However, owners of the houses are increasingly converting them into other uses, especially commercial use.

Director, Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, disclosed the revocation threat in a press conference in his Wuse Zone 5 office, Friday.

Revealing that the houses were sold to the occupiers so that they could maintain them, he decried that after some time, some of the beneficiaries began converting the houses into other uses.

This, according to him, constitutes so much burden in terms of city administration and management that this administration felt it cannot condone any longer.

His words: “It is on this note that the Minister has approved and directed that all owners of such properties should revert the use of the properties to its original and designated land use which is residential.”

“Failing to comply with this directive as from November 1, the house is considered as revoked,” he said.

“We are giving such persons and individuals to the end of October to revert to original uses, otherwise from November 1, they should consider such properties as revoked and returned to FCTA”, he added.

Galadima also said that so far, the department has recorded more than 111 cases of arbitrary land use conversions in respect of the sold houses, cutting across all the districts of the capital city.

He said that owners of the properties have been informed and given notices to revert to the original land uses but failed to comply.

The Director warned that once the houses are revoked, the FCT Administration would decide the next line of action.

“The Minister has also directed that owners of properties, particularly along major streets that have converted their properties to other uses without approval should either revert to original use or pay contravention charges,” he added.

“Anyone that fails to comply with such a directive, the Administration will take appropriate action, which may include revocation,” Galadima restated.

“It is on this note that we felt it is wise to inform the public of the decision and directive of the FCT Administration with regards to the indiscriminate conversion of land uses in FCT. This is done to maintain the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan,” the Director reiterated.