The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, gave the directive for the Department of Development Control, to engage community leaders, where no less than 200 houses will be affected by the planned expansion.
The Director of the DDC, Mukhtar Galadima, while speaking during a community and citizens’ engagement on Tuesday, said the decision was according to a request by the Nigerian Air Force about a month ago, adding that the minister requested to handle the issue, as part of the FCTA’s responsibility.
“About a month ago, the authority of the Nigerian Air Force wrote to the minister on their needs and desire to relocate this village, because it is part of the presidential fleet plots.
“So, the minister in his wisdom, requested them to allow the FCT Administration to handle it, because it is the responsibility of the FCT Administration. The Nigerian Air Force approached the Department of Development Control on their desire.
“We have to do a community and citizens’ engagement, which is why we are here today to discuss with the community, and to tell them of our intention because it will be unfair to bring the machine here and start removing their houses. So, we visited the chief at his palace to meet him and told him our reason for coming to this place”, Galadima said.
The director also noted that about 150 houses of the 200, had stores attached to them and would be affected by the relocation, adding that the department will confirm that the community had been duly compensated, while also expressing concern for the security of the area for the planned presidential fleet.
“We will discuss with the Air Force because obviously, discussions behind the scenes indicate that some forms of compensation were paid. We are going to conduct further investigation by engaging the FCT Department of Resettlement and Compensation as well as the Nigerian Air Force and find out if compensation has been paid, to whom, and when.
“There are certain things that we have to look into with consideration, like the security because obviously, this part of some of these settlements is where you have some of these people of the underworld trying to disguise and hide. And looking at this, the Air Force formation, which is the presidential fleet, is too close for this thing to cohabit. So we will see, if there is that urgent desire to remove part of this community, we will do it,” he stated.
