By Agbenu Oyale, Abuja
THE Federal Government on Wednesday said there would be no compensation for owners of demolished shanties in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Minister of the FCT, Mallam Mohammed Musa Bello stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the residential Villa, Abuja.
He said many illegal structures and shanties demolished were built during the lockdown imposed on the territory due to COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he said compensation would be made available for any structure removed to expand roads or provide essential facilities.
He said: “The issue of renovations in the FCT is not new, it’s something that occurs as part of the daily work of enforcement, unfortunately, in the recent past, particularly during COVID-19, when most of the inspectorate staff were not able to cover many parts of the city, a lot of people went and started doing illegal constructions.
“The policies and guidelines for building in the FCT are very clear, they are well documented, the laws are there. So, what we have been doing, basically, is just to remove infringements. So, the issue of compensation, normally, will not arise because everything is illegal.
“If, for instance, somebody decides to go and start building on a road corridor, which is common knowledge is a road corridor, and in most cases some of these buildings, you will notice that abatement notices had been given to them, but they still go ahead. So, we keep on demolishing.
“But there are some areas where, as part of our urban renewal and upgrade, if we need to take off a building, either to expand the road corridor or to create essential facilities for social services, obviously, these ones will be compensated, it has always been happening.”
On the exploding population in the FCT, he said the administration was making efforts to manage the situation even though he said stoping the population in the FCT from increasing was not an option because of the nature of the city and the purpose it serves.
According to him, the situation was following a trend with the urbanisation factor, which is a global reality.
He said the administration was doing everything to make sure that the crowd is managed by ensuring that institutions are strengthened and infrastructure is increased to meet the needs of the city.
He said: “Urbanization is a reality that we cannot reverse, it’s a worldwide phenomenon and urbanisation will continue. As a matter of fact, it has been projected by 2050, 70% of the world population will be living in urban areas, Abuja is no exception.
“It has served as a magnet because it’s the centre of government, it’s secure, it’s peaceful, it’s in the centre of the country and it provides tremendous amount of opportunities for young people. So, this will continue.
“But it’s something that we are trying to manage. How do we manage it? We are strengthening our institutions, increasing infrastructure within the available resources, but with urbanisation and movement of people, obviously crime also increases; the need to handle urban waste increases, and so many other things.
“It’s something that we’ll keep on working on, and some of the demolitions we even do is as a result of that. When people come in, they don’t have housing, they don’t have accommodation, they go into shanties and they create slums.
“As you continue economic activities, labour has to come in. So, we are trying and Abuja is trying to see how we can fit into the Millennium Development Goals of sustainability. We are trying to make a sustainable city and I tell you, it’s not going to be just government, it has to be a combination of government, private sector, the citizenry and all of us. But in spite of what you said, by and large, it’s still one of the best cities in Africa and we’ll continue to do our best.”