FCTA issues 3-week ultimatum to police personnel to quit residence

THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Thursday, issued a three-week ultimatum to some personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, occupying one of its resettlement sites at Galuwyi Shere in Bwari Area Council of FCT, Abuja, to vacate the place with a view to allowing contractors complete renovation of the work on schedule.

 

The project, which sits on approximately 900 hectares landmass, has about 2, 276 units of a two-bed room each and one unit of four-bedroom for the Chief’s residence.

The Police personnel were said to have been taken possession of the uncompleted project without permission a few years ago.

Director, Resettlement and Compensation of FCTA, Baba Kura Umar, who issued this ultimatum during a tour of the project, further added that the quit notice earlier issued by the FCT administration expired since February 14.

According to him, “the project started in 2006 and most of the buildings were later completed but because they were not handed over to us (FCTA), some Police personnel moved in but we are working on getting them out so that contractors can fast-track completion of renovation work in about three or four weeks.”

He said the pilot resettlement project was designed to accommodate 13 communities which would be relocated from the city centre to pave way for development.

On the reasons for late take over the project, the director said that the administration needed to ensure facilities such as water, schools and road network provided in tandem with global best practices before relocating the communities.

“Impunity should not be allowed to thrive in our way of doing things. The government has spent huge sums of money to put in place this project, and it is meant for the relocation of the original inhabitants and they have been writing to us to relocate them there because they feel it is more comfortable for them due to the world-class facilities on the site.

“The Inspector-General of Police is aware of this and we are honestly sympathetic to the Police course. It is not our wish to drive them out of the facility because they are even the ones who are giving us security. But we have no choice but to eject them, at least from the 145 of the units for now.” He explained.

Umar said the relocation was planned in phases, adding that the first phase would involve a movement of about 145 households of Jabi Yakubu and the others would follow subsequently but “we cannot renovate this place when the police are there and some of them have been given the houses out to third party.

“Contractors who had abandoned site have now returned to site and work is fast ongoing on the road construction, water provision and the school is almost 100 percent completed.” He stressed.

Some occupants of the houses who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that they moved into the houses a few years ago without neither payment nor permission.

According to them, we spent different sums of money to carry out different degrees of repairs on the houses to make them habitable before we moved in.