By Henry Umoru

Abuja- Federal Capital Territory minister, Senator Bala Mohammed announced yesterday that 59,339 plots of land had so far been allocated in the territory but he is not in a hurry to allocate more.

The Minister who said a total of N150 billion was required for the full implementation of compensation and resettlement of original inhabitants of the Territory, stressed that the administration had so far spent a total of N25 billion in the programme.  He stressed the need for the administration to intensify efforts in its revenue drive because N500 billion can be generated if the necessary legal framework was put in place.

Speaking at his first Town Hall meeting at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Senator Mohammed said he did not want to fall into the trap of land speculators.

The land allocation, according to him, were made across 63 districts as follows: Agriculture 60; Commercial 3,837; Industrial 328; Mixed use 373; Mass Housing 314; Open Space/Green Area 78; Public Institution 565; Public Utility Unit 9; Residential 53,750 and Transportation 25.

The Minister recalled that the Ministerial Committee on Repositioning Land Administration in FCT recently submitted its report with a lot of revelations; assuring that his administration will follow due process in allocating any plot of land in the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the Committee’s report, a total of 18,445 plots of land were allocated in the Federal Capital Territory from January 1, 2007 to April 2010. It will be recalled that Committee revealed that 12,816 which constitute 70.24 percent of such allocations were done in the last 5 months of Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai’s  administrations and that of Dr. Aliyu Moddibbo Umar allocated 1,040 while that of Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero allocated 4,589 plots out of those plots which constitute 5.70 percent and 25.15 percent respectively.

He also disclosed that the administration of Mallam el-Rufai allocated 254 sites for Mass Housing Scheme; Senator Aliero allocated 71 Mass Housing Sites but that Dr. Modibbo did not allocate a single Mass Housing plot during his tenure.

He reiterated his desire to see to the dream of an all- inclusive Federal Capital Territory in accordance with the Abuja Master Plan, said, “Today, we are observing a four-year old tradition which our forebears in the FCT Administration handed down to us, because the government of Mr. President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, is an open government. It is a government that believes very much in persuasion, education and dialogue with the people to gauge their pulse with the aim of addressing their needs”.