The demolition threat to Kugbo layout residents

Hence, as part of the FCT regional area it is within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Area Council to plan and allocate, subject to the approval of the FCT Minister. It is very clear that it shall be tantamount to having two captains in a ship, if the FCTA and the AMAC are planning and […]

Hence, as part of the FCT regional area it is within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Area Council to plan and allocate, subject to the approval of the FCT Minister. It is very clear that it shall be tantamount to having two captains in a ship, if the FCTA and the AMAC are planning and allocating plots within the same area. That was the essence of the division of responsibilities between the city and its regional areas, and also as provided in the Land Use Act. Section 6 (1) (a), of the Act empowers Local Governments to grant Customary Right of Occupancy to person or organisation outside areas declared as urban.
It could be recalled that during the el-Rufa’i tenure the Area Councils were bared from issuing allocations and building permits. However, most approvals and allocations on the Kugbo Layout were acquired and developed inline with laid down rules and regulations prior to that order. The genesis of the underlying problem is the allocation of about 430Ha of land in 2007 by the FCTA to the Sunrise Estate Development Company within the neighbourhood. Such that it engulfed about 40 already developed and many occupied plots of the Kugbo Layout, earlier planned and allocated by the AMAC as empowered by the LUA, as far back as 1998. The Sunrise Estate which extends from Asokoro to areas around Guzape is to build about 5,000 houses. While the Kugbo Layout is less than 50 Ha with not more than 300 plots, and limited only to the Kugbo area. The Sunrise Estate then applied for the removal of those developments which they deemed as encroachment on their title, despite the possession of valid legal documents by the affected Kugbo Layout plot owners.
To prevent the demolition of their properties, some of the affected persons went to court in 2007. In 2010, they applied for withdrawal of the case in order to move it to the FCT URP tribunal, a more suitable institution to hear the case before any possible appeal to the High Court if later warranted. But instead of granting their request, the court dismissed the case. Some other persons now filed their case in the Tribunal, as those affected by the dismissal cannot go to any court again, unless this dismissal is appealed, and withdrawal granted. The case has been with the Tribunal since October 2010 and up to the recent expiration of the Tribunal’s tenure it was not concluded. Presently, in order to seize the advantage of the absence of the Tribunal, prior to its re-constitution, there is a renewed drive, pushed by the Sunrise Estate to demolish the affected Kugbo layout structures. This is with the knowledge that the Tribunal is on its way to considering the Kugbo layout as genuinely allocated.
Upon receipt of fresh demolition notices last month, petitions were written by the affected persons to the co-ordinator AMMC, Office of the Senate President, Chairman Senate Committee on FCT, the FCT Minister and others, for their intervention. If the claim by sunrise estate and the development control that these allocations and permits are illegal is true, then the whole of Kugbo Layout, and all other layouts in the FCT by AMAC should also be declared illegal and demolished.
It is not proper for the people to be driven away like animals. Even if these less privileged are to be driven away, they need to be relocated and compensated by virtue of their valid documents. Meanwhile, other than the road networks in parts of their land, the uncontested area within the more than 400Ha Sunrise allocation is still less than 10% built. We urge the Honourable Minister to speedy up the re-constitution of the URP Tribunal, to allow the determination of the pending cases, prior to any action by the Development Control. Otherwise, he should directly intervene and allow these poor owners maintain their houses. At least the Sunrise Development Company has more than enough. There is also the need for statement on the state of land tenure in the FCT especially as it affects holders of area council allocations.