Ways of resolving Abuja urban land and planning problems

There are many irregularities in lands allocation in Abuja, hence the constant crises that the master plan has been distorted. Also many plots were wrongly revoked and re-allocated to none or undeserving names and companies newly registered for the purpose of the plots acquisition. The pretext for revoking the ownership of previous allocations usually made […]

There are many irregularities in lands allocation in Abuja, hence the constant crises that the master plan has been distorted. Also many plots were wrongly revoked and re-allocated to none or undeserving names and companies newly registered for the purpose of the plots acquisition. The pretext for revoking the ownership of previous allocations usually made was either for failure to develop the plots or for overriding public interest. However, the ground for the action became defeated when the re-allocations later turned out to neither be meant for actual development nor made for public use, but for speculation. This is because soon after the re-allocation, the documents start flying all over the city in search of buyers.
Worse still, some plots considered sacred due to their importance, like hospitals and transportation terminals, were also not spared. They were either completely revoked or relocated to other less attractive locations in order to acquire them for speculation. The passion for acquiring the juicy plots of Abuja is not a respecter of the master plan’s proposals.
Majority of people allocated lands in Abuja fall among the category of false developers, because in Nigeria, almost all the people in authority both at the federal, state and local levels aspire to have plots allocation in the city even if they do not have the resources to develop them. The greater majority end up selling them out at cut-throat prices rather than the development. This singular attitude is the monstrous contributor to the expensive life in Abuja.
Meanwhile, all the FCT administrations till date with the exception of the initial ones seek to satisfy the government officials or the powers above in order to secure their seats, friends and cronies and people of influence in any of the layouts designed in the city.
The urban planning problems include numerous property ownership conflicts, wrongful and fraudulent allocations, revocations and demolitions. It is imperative to strengthen the activities of the existing FCT Urban and Regional Planning Tribunal. This tribunal exists but its demands for effective operation are not always met by the authority. Section 84, sub-section 3 of the Nigerian URP Law Decree 88 of 1992 which establishes the tribunal stipulates that an aggrieved owner, occupier or interested party of a building which is the subject of a demolition order, may appeal against the order to the planning tribunal for determination of the object and further appeal to the high court of the state or the FCT, as the case may be.
Because the cost of relocation and compensation is proving to be overwhelming to the authority, integration of indigenous inhabitants should be adopted rather than the compensation and relocation to other areas. However, special models of the integrations must be explored to adopt one that shall be suitable to Abuja in order to avoid the type of failure experienced with the Garki Village integration exercise.
Fraudulent revocations and re-allocations of the revoked plots to non-existent or non-deserving persons or companies must be checked, and victims or persons that feel shortchanged are to channel their grievances to the tribunal. Due process and procedure must be observed by the authority when making allocation. Rules and regulations guiding developments for various land uses and locations must be observed by developers, both private and public. For a plot to be revoked due to lack of development by the allottees, infrastructure must be provided to the area for at least 2 years.
The activities of development control in Abuja is made easy when the allocating department respects the land use regulations during plots allocations, respects the rules and regulations guiding plots revocation and ensure that allocation to plots are made to only one beneficiary as against double or triple allocations on a plot. Sometimes building plans approvals were made based on fake title documents. The above measures will reduce to the barest minimum, the occurrence of granting building plans approval based on fake title documents.
With regard the informal sector, any program for the restoration of the city master plan must address these ignored informal sectors, which concern the low income group. This aspect is in dire need of restoration more than any. Workable plans must be made in order to accommodate them according to the master plan. If not for anything but for arresting the unimaginable havoc unemployment can wreck on the security of our city.