The Accidental Public Servant
Page 44
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<
br />
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.<
br />
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