The Accidental Public Servant

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by El-Rufai, Nasir


  learnt was that getting many people to collaborate and cooperate to execute such construction projects

  just did not work. Instead, it appeared better to allocate land to individuals and organizations and

  hold them accountable for better results.

  Kuruduma/Kpaduma/Apo Tafyi Layouts

  These layouts were created out of the green buffer zone around the FCC by my predecessors and the

  Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). AMAC did so in violation of the Court of Appeal's

  decision in Ona v. Atenda, which declared illegal any land allocation in FCT by anyone other than

  the Minister. We found that it was mostly favoured staff of the FCTA, well-connected persons in the

  Villa, and in the National Assembly that were the principal beneficiaries of that illegality and abuse

  of the green buffer zone around the city of Abuja. Throughout my tenure as minister, I withheld assent

  to assign, mortgage or sell any of the plots in these layouts, filed them for study when submitted for

  re-certification and requested AMAC to hand over details of their ‘allocations’ for a holistic

  decision. Our plan was to take inventory of all the allocations and provide alternatives on the

  completion of the regularization of area council land ‘titles’. The allottees of these illegal allocations

  were not notified of any revocation so could not be offered alternative plots because we had not

  sorted out all the issues by the time we left office.

  Illegal Land Conversions in Kubwa

  Kubwa was originally a new town to resettle original inhabitants of Maitama and Wuse villages

  when city infrastructure construction in the districts began. The resettled citizens were usually

  provided with facilities like houses, schools, markets, social and medical facilities, along with tracts

  of farmland so their agrarian lifestyles were not unduly disrupted. However, the decision to

  accelerate the movement of federal ministries to Abuja converted Kubwa into a de facto satellite

  town, and most of the original inhabitants sold their homes at premiums and relocated to other parts of

  the FCT, thus compounding the overall resettlement challenges.

  We found that illegal land conversions were therefore taking place, not only within the FCC, but in

  the satellite and resettlement towns. In Kubwa, nearly 100 hectares of erstwhile agricultural land

  statutorily allocated to Fresh Fruits Ltd - a company owned by former minister of FCT, Air Vice

  Marshall Hamza Abdullahi, [88] had been wrongly converted into residential land. The farm was re-

  designed, laid out and ‘allocated’ to gullible citizens with the active connivance of past and current

  staff of the MFCT and FCDA. Over 60 hectares of this land had been occupied by illegal developers

  with hundreds of buildings. The situation needed to be acted upon, resulting in the extensive

  demolition operations in Kubwa.

  We began by setting up a task team to ascertain the extent of encroachment and illegal conversions in

  Kubwa, and received a progress report in March 2004. The team identified 24 people, many of whom

  were MFCT/FCDA staff, that were engaged in various land-related malpractices in the old

  resettlement town. The report established that more than 200 houses were built in parts of land set

  aside for agricultural purposes for three organizations, including the International Institute for

  Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The team recommended that the minister of FCT accepted the reality of

  the rapid and unexpected growth of Kubwa from a small resettlement town into an urbanized satellite

  town. The committee also recommended that the farmlands be redesigned as residential areas, the

  grants revoked, and the allottees relocated to Kuje, Kwali or other agricultural parts of the FCT. The

  report suggested that Kubwa should then be completely re-planned into the proper satellite town it

  had organically evolved into.

  We accepted the recommendations, but agreed to limit the land holdings for large residential estates

  (then renamed Mass Housing) to a maximum of 50 Hectares and directed that new, modified but

  residential titles be issued to Fresh Fruits, General Gado Nasko and IITA. We then inventoried the

  illegal buildings already constructed, pegged boundaries and informed the Kubwa Residents

  Association (KUREWA) that no more buildings should be erected in the area.

  President Obasanjo wanted all the illegal residential buildings demolished and land reverted to the

  MFCT. We argued in the FEC that this would amount to waste of resources, as those allocated the

  land had to develop it into residences after excavating the foundations anyway. We made the case that

  we should live with the infractions but make the law-breakers pay as if they were acquiring the

  buildings afresh from the government. This was derived from the legal maxim of “lex situs” , that is

  ‘whoever owns the land (the government) owns whatever is built on it by any other person (the illegal

  developers)’. We saved thousands of citizens from being traumatised and the FCTA made hundreds

  of millions of naira in revenues from persuading the cabinet to take this pragmatic decision. We got

  approval of the cabinet to issue titles to all the pegged, illegal buildings upon payment of the current

  replacement costs of the buildings plus normal land charges. We got our staff and outside team of

  valuers to value each property, and issued offer letters.

  Unfortunately, members of KUREWA began building fresh settlements, enlarging the encroachments,

  sometimes during the night to avoid detection. We had to put a decisive stop to this. Therefore, we

  deployed bulldozers to Kubwa and took down the illegal additions. We also used the opportunity to

  begin the clearance of other illegal structures in Kubwa, causing uproar in the House of

  Representatives. [89] This was understandable, because we later found that many influential members

  of the House had several such illegal properties there. This pattern of clothing private, self-interest as

  public concern has sadly become a repeated pattern of conduct of politicians in general, including

  those in the national assembly.

  Early Vindication by Unexpected Flooding in Kubwa

  Our incessant enlightenment campaigns on the dangers of violations of the Abuja Master Plan got a

  boost from a most innocuous occurrence – an unexpected flooding that caused massive loss of

  property in Kubwa, about a year after the House of Representatives had condemned our corrective

  actions in the town. On 7th August 2006, a section of Kubwa town woke up that Monday morning

  submerged by water due to heavy overnight rains and flash floods from the surrounding hills.

  Happily, no lives were lost but properties were destroyed, routine activities disrupted and productive

  time lost in the process. The worst hit areas were those along the banks of Usuma River and its

  tributaries, which traversed Kubwa Town.

  The FCT administration intervened in the rescue operations and the temporary resettlement of those

  affected. We then proceeded to remove structures that appeared to obstruct the free flow of the river,

  while carrying out a study to address medium term needs for the prevention of future occurrences.

  About three weeks later on 22nd August 2006, I received a comprehensive report prepared by the

  quietly efficient, intelligent and competent Deputy Director of Development Control, Yahaya

  Yusuf[90] with analysis of the situation, recommendations and schedule of remedial actions. Mr<
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  Yusuf recommended the complete removal of 159 buildings, partial removal of 35, shifting of 23

  fence lines, and the relocation of four non-residential land uses. Outlined was a four-week

  programme of removal and clearing of rubble that would then be followed by planting and

  landscaping of river banks and proposed recreational grounds, and construction of walkways along

  the river and its tributaries by the Bwari Area Council. I approved all the recommendations on 6th

  September, and this time around, no one in Kubwa or the national assembly raised any objections.

  God in His Mercy had come to the aid of the righteous FCT administration by showing what happens

  when rules, regulations and issues of orderliness are taken for granted.

  Public Toilets

  Early in my tours of the FCT, I noticed a young man urinating on the side of the road. [91] I made a

  mental note to ask whether the Abuja Master Plan made no provisions for public toilets in our weekly

  management committee meetings. The discussion confirmed that indeed, public toilets had been

  provided for in the plan, but like everything else, had been distorted, converted to other land uses or

  not built at all. This led to the establishment of a committee to ramp up the provision of public toilets

  in the Federal Capital City on 3rd May, 2004, under the chairmanship of Mrs Maimuna Ajanah, the

  Director of Municipal Affairs and Environment of MFCT. [92] The committee submitted its report in

  June 2004.

  The report indicated that nine public toilet facilities were first constructed by the FCDA between

  1996 and 1997, and allocated to private operators and managers upon payment of N12,000 per

  annum. The public toilets had been converted into shops, business centres and laundromats. The

  allocations were accordingly revoked, and quit notices served on the violators. The committee

  observed that there were only 13 such facilities in the entire city and these were grossly inadequate

  for a daytime population of nearly two million. The report made far reaching recommendations for the

  MFCT and the private sector to construct several public toilets in locations all over the city with easy

  connections to sewer lines. In parks, bus stops and recreational areas without access to sewer lines,

  the committee recommended the deployment of prefabricated ‘waterless’ toilets. The FCT

  management committee approved all the recommendations and these were faithfully implemented,

  with little or no demolition.

  Chief Igweh Comes Calling

  One of the earliest challenges we faced in restoring the Abuja Master Plan was a confrontation with a

  leading politician and businessman now deceased, Chief J. U Igweh, the owner of the Bolingo Hotel

  in Abuja. Chief Igweh was a very close business and political associate of Vice President Atiku

  Abubakar, a leading member of the PDP and reputedly one of the party’s original godfathers in the

  southeast. His case was typical of many influential Nigerians who wanted things done their way

  without regard to the rules. In my BPE days, he had bid to acquire controlling interest in Unipetrol,

  but lost to Ocean & Oil (now Oando). To be fair to him, he did not blame me entirely, as he felt Atiku

  ought to have given me orders to simply sell the company to him. In spite of this, I think our earlier

  unprofitable interaction may have coloured his attitude to our efforts to sort out the issues relating to

  violation of the land uses around Bolingo Hotel. I will now explain this in some detail.

  In November 1990, Bolingo Hotels and Towers were allocated Plot No. 597 of approximately 1.2

  hectares within the Central Area, AO District, for the development of a hotel building. Four years

  later, in 1994, after the commencement of the development of the hotel, the company applied for and

  obtained approval for the adjoining Plot 598 of approximately 6,400 square metres as an extension of

  its premises [Plot 597]. Plot 598 was designated in the Abuja Master Plan as a Central Area Night

  School, so the city lost the benefit of having such a school. This allocation brought the area of the land

  allocated to the hotel company to 1.8 hectares. In November 1995, barely one year after the first

  extension was granted, another request followed. This time the company sought for extension into

  Plots 599, 600 and 601. In the Master Plan, Plot 599 was reserved for green park and Plot 600 for a

  church, and in-fact had already been allocated to ECWA Church. Plot 601 was reserved for the

  transit railway park. Plots 599 (green area) and 600 (ECWA Church), with total size of about 1.3

  hectares were revoked and reallocated to Bolingo Hotels, while Plot 601 was not for obvious

  reasons. With the new addition, the total size of land granted in favour of the hotel increased to 3.1

  hectares. By these allocations, the ministry changed three prescribed land uses of the Master Plan in

  favour of Bolingo Hotels, namely: Educational, Green Park [also reserved as corridors for

  underground utilities] and Religious Institution [already allotted to the ECWA Church]. In terms of

  size, the allotted land area increased nearly three times over the original allocation. It should also be

  noted that Bolingo Hotels insisted on separate certificates of occupancy for the extensions granted

  [that is Plots 599 and 600] instead of a mere adjustment to the TDP for the first grant [that is Plots

  597 and 598] to incorporate the new extensions, as is customary in FCT land administration.

  In spite of the concessions made by the ministry, another letter in 2000 from Bolingo Hotels

  and Towers sought for further extension into Plots 601 [this was the transit way park plot that was

  earlier refused] and 602 reserved as rail terminus. It was obvious that the request was against basic

  urban planning principles and could only be granted in further gross violation of the Abuja Master

  Plan. The application was, therefore, not granted and this was duly communicated to Bolingo Hotels.

  In early 2003, just before my predecessor left office, Bolingo Hotels re-applied for the allocation of

  Plots 601 and 602 that had earlier been refused in the public interest. Unfortunately, the staff of the

  Surveying Division of MFCT misunderstood the Minister’s written directive to ‘process’ Bolingo’s

  new application as an ‘approval for allocation’ and proceeded to prepare a title deed plan (TDP) and

  issued a bill for the Certificate of Occupancy in respect of Plots 601 and 602 without any formal

  approval and letter of allocation. It is important to note, however, that without finally obtaining the

  required ministerial approval, the purported ‘processing’ of Plots 601 and 602 TDP in favour of

  Bolingo Hotels was of no effect, as the mere possession of the TDP could not have passed title of the

  plots to Bolingo Hotels.

  That was the situation I inherited in July 2003 when Chief Igweh paid me a courtesy call and

  complained that corrupt officials of the MFCT were delaying the issuance of his certificate of

  occupancy, thus delaying his expansion programme for the hotel. I think his expectation was that I

  would instruct the expeditious issuance of a C of O, which would have remedied the fatal omissions

  in the ‘allocation’ process. Luckily, I did not. I promised to look into the matter and requested for a

  full briefing by all the land-related departments. What I found – the almost insatiable land grab and

  flagrant violations of development control regulations both amazed and intrigued me.<
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  Bolingo Hotels and Towers obtained the building plan approval for the development of a hotel on

  Plot 598 in 1996. Bolingo had since then had a series of confrontations with, including physical

  assault on, staff of the Development Control Department due to various development control

  contraventions. Some of the contraventions included:

  • Development without setting-out approval. The application for setting-out approval for the

  development of Plot 598 could not be granted due to inappropriate access to the plot. Temporary

  access was taken by Bolingo Hotels through Plot 596, which belonged to an adjoining allottee.

  Despite the ministry’s disapproval, Bolingo Hotels proceeded with the development. Bolingo

  Hotels even went further to obtain an injunction from the Abuja High Court restraining the lawful

  allottee of Plot 596 from denying Bolingo Hotel trespassory access through his plot.

  • Erection of Fence without due approval. In September 2003, Bolingo Hotels built, without

  planning approval, a fence and other structures on Plot 599 reserved as corridors for utilities. The

  Development Control Department reacted by demolishing these structures.

  • The development of Plots 599 and 600 without planning approval. Several contravention cotices

  were served on Bolingo Hotels with regard to the development of Plots 599 and 600, done without

  proper title or the approval of the Department of Development Control. As usual, most of the

  notices were ignored by Bolingo Hotels. Only a big man in Nigeria, with wealth and political

  connections, could behave with such impunity.

  However, there were more complaints from other departments of FCDA about Bolingo and Chief

  Igweh.

  The Bolingo Hotels building was set-out and built on natural ground level, which is inconsistent with

  engineering regulations. The access to the hotel was from Road AR-14 [which was yet to be

  constructed then] where the road finish level would be about eight metres above the natural ground

 

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