Demolition to continue in FCT

As part of efforts to stick to the Abuja Master Plan and sanitise the nation’s capital, the Department of Development Control has vowed that demolition would continue in the FCT as long as developers contravene the plan.

The Director, Department of Development Control, Muktar Usman Galadima, stated this in a chat with some journalists in Abuja.

Galadima said: “So long as human activities constitute ille­galities and abnormalities, then we have to correct the mistakes. It is not a punitive measure, but a corrective measure. Demolition will come to end when there is no illegality.

“There is no human society without mistakes and corrections. So long as there are mistakes, ille­galities and deviations, demolition will remain”.

Galadima advised residents and developers to obtain approvals before proceeding to develop their property in any part of the FCT. He also advised unsuspecting Ni­gerians not to buy land anywhere or any property without confirma­tion, stressing that buyers should do a legal search in lands depart­ment as well as the Department of Development Control to ensure that all necessary requirements have been fulfilled and not to fall into the hands of fraud stars.

Explaining the procedure for change in land use, he said: “The applicant should put up an application with a fee, after which an inter departmental committee would assess the application followed by an Envi­ronmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the intended change of land use.”