Authority of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has alerted residents on the proliferation of illegal housing estates and other developments along Idu Train Station, Apo Tapi and Lugbe areas within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
To this end, the Administration through the Department of Development Control (DDC) said it has already served all relevant notices and has marked the structures, which at appropriate time, its officials are going to embark on a massive removal exercise.
While briefing Journalists in Abuja on the development, the Director, Department of Development control, TPL Mukhtar Galadima, said the alarm became necessary, due to the rising adverts on social media by land grabbers and illegal developers of housing estates.
Galadima explained that these areas have not yet being detailed with design layout, but people are carrying fake title document that it is been allocated by AMAC.
He noted that with constitution of FCT Urban and Planning Tribunal, land grabbing and other menace will be reduced, as there would be prosecution of defaulters.
He also revealed that developers of illegal structures and land grabbers will be made to pay for the cost of demolition and afterwards be handed over to the Police for diligent prosecution.
According to him: “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 in line 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.”
