WHY WE DEMOLISHED 11 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS IN APO-DUTSE

…Development Control Director

By: Wisdom Acka

No fewer than eleven high-rise buildings of two and three floors were demolished by the Department of Development Control in Apo, Dutse Thursday, October 16 2025

Speaking to journalists after the exercise, the Director, of Development Control, Tpl. Mukhtar Galadima, disclosed that the developer ignored all notices and disregarded all communications to abide by development regulations.

In his explanation, Galadima said the demolition became imperative because the estate is located under a high-tension electrical installation and standing in the way of an upcoming bridge planned for the area.

He, however, noted that the developers were actually allocated the plot, albeit wrongly, revealing that the developers have been offered the opportunity for an alternative allocation, but they are yet to accept, instead, they proceeded with the illegal development.

His words: “This is a statutorily allocated plot. They requested for approval and applied for building plan approval, which we declined for the fact that it’s in proximity to a high-tension line, as well as a stream channel. So, we declined to approve, but they moved ahead to work.

“We have been serving notices, even from the excavation stage. Through Various stages of development, we’ve been serving notices, we even communicated to them in writing that the work should be stopped. But unfortunately, maybe considering their institution and agency, they moved on.”

Galadima also stated that the Engineering Department of the FCDA, wrote to his Department on plans to construct a bridge on that particular section of the district, “So, there’s nothing we can do about this.”

Ruling out the possibility of compensation for the development, the Director explained that “compensation is given to any property that has approval which is being cut off by development process.”

He added that in the case of the demolished property, there was “no approval, you were asked to stop at the excavation stage, you didn’t comply, so there’s no compensation,” he insisted.

The Director also hinted at the possibility of prosecuting defaulting developers and making them pay the penalties, including the cost of the demolition exercise.