Wike orders release of land to victims of Gishiri demolition within 1 week

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, yesterday ordered the FCT Director of Lands, Chijioke Nwankwoeze, to within one week, allocate alternative lands for victims of Gishiri demolition. The minister, who visited the affected victims at Gishiri on Wednesday, disagreed with the director, who told him that the available lands would not be enough to share among […]

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, yesterday ordered the FCT Director of Lands, Chijioke Nwankwoeze, to within one week, allocate alternative lands for victims of Gishiri demolition.

The minister, who visited the affected victims at Gishiri on Wednesday, disagreed with the director, who told him that the available lands would not be enough to share among the beneficiaries and that it will be difficult to find an area that is completely free.

The minister said, ‘’I don’t agree with you. Let this be the last time I hear about this complaint. I give you people one week to go and allocate those lands to them. If it is not enough, then we’ll find an alternative and manage it.’’

The minister also advised the victims to start accepting their compensation money or risk losing the lands. 

He said, “If you don’t take the money, I’ll not give you people the land again. Go and collect the money. So, as you take the land, you start developing it.

‘’If I hear that you did not take it, I will not also give you the land and you’d be the one that will suffer. So don’t give me the condition that you have to be given the land first.’’

The minister also directed the Director of the Department of Resettlement and Compensation, Nasiru Suleiman, to pay compensation to the affected persons within one week.

Earlier, the Director of Land had informed the minister that the area to be allocated to the victims needed to be marked and designed into plots before being given to them.

He said, ‘’The problem with the area is that it is a 12-hectare plot and the demolition on it took place a long time ago. Afterwards, they started applying for building plans and they started developing them in a haphazard manner. So, you can’t really get a particular area that is free, completely.’’