Daily Trust - the online edition

FCDA is required by law to pay full compensation to any property owner the value of his development and also issue him an alternative plot as a replacement for the one revoked or demolished one for overriding public interest, or as a solution to a dispute not caused by the developer whose property is so affected so long as he possesses all the valid documents. As sanctioned by the law being an application of the common sense, nothing is more reasonable than such a rule.

As well intentioned as the rule, it is being exploited by the architects of land grab to perpetuate their ownership of most of the lands which are the subject of multiple allocations or unjust revocations leading to conflicts and litigations. Only few of the conflicts of such nature are caused by mistakes or none deliberate errors. Majority are either due to negligence, deliberate or selfish actions, with the architects later turning out to either directly or indirectly be the beneficiaries. For instance in a situation of double allocation on a single plot, even without the provisions of the law common sense should judge in favour of the first allottee. But with the knowledge of the fact that the authority always decides in favour of the person who has development on site in order to avoid the payment of compensation, the second allottee hastens to acquire building plan approval and commence development at the expense of the first allotee who eventually shall be given alternative and usually in a less valuable area. This is also the method adopted by the beneficiaries of those plots wrongly revoked.

With available records, no plot must be re-allocated over a subsisting allocation, no building plan approval must be granted while another is being processed on the same plot, and no plot must be revoked if the conditions for revocation are not met. Meanwhile, on the surface, a plot might seem to be lying undeveloped despite the provision of infrastructure in the area for a long time, but a simple investigation of the activities concerning the plot in development control department might reveal so many correspondences between the authority and the plot owner while the application for the building plan approval is being processed. Even after the approval, the developer is given reasonable time to allow him mobilize to site. Therefore, no plot must be revoked by any administrator, prior to the inquiry of its development history from the development control department. But with overzealous administrators their eyes are always scouting for plots to snatch and re-allocate, not minding the consequences of lack of the observation of due process. This explains the reason why all the beneficiaries of re-allocated plots from wrongful revocations were informed to commence their developments within the life span of that administration. It goes without saying that whoever is the successor would not like to expend the little resources needed for many vital projects requiring immediate attention on the payment of compensation in a situation where it turns out that they are to lose the plot, which certainly they are aware shall happen when due process on how it was acquired is applied.

The argument for the need for accelerated development of the city as always advanced is either ill-conceived or misunderstood, because that era has already gone. During the initial stage of the city’s development, there was need for rapid development activities in order to provide houses and infrastructures for those to develop the city and subsequently those to pioneer the initial movement from Lagos to Abuja, basically to meet the target period set. Hence, the accelerated development of Garki district, tagged Accelerated District Construction Project (ADCP). Seventeen years now after the movement of the seat of government, with the city as functional as it is, its development has actually been accelerated much more than the ability of the government to provide the needed infrastructure for its efficient functioning. If as a nation’s capital, we experience water scarcity, power failure and sewage explosions, with many districts yet to be provided with the needed infrastructure, despite the massive investments by the individual developers, the city’s problems, rather than being solved shall actually be compounded by further accelerated development measures. Moreover, up to 8,000 allocation letters were still lying in the AGIS uncollected according to the GM not quite long ago. What is actually required is retardation of the tempo of individual plot developments, especially in areas without infrastructures, but a more increased rate of change of velocity in the area of infrastructural provision by the government in order to meet up with the existing development.

One of the plots re-allocated through the Accelerated Development Program of the previous administration is Plot No. 123, Central Area District. It was revoked from the National Eye Center and re-allocated to Suhaf Associates (Nig) Ltd on 2nd August 2005. But as soon as it is re-allocated, rather than Suhaf accelerating its development, it ended up accelerating its sale to Chidol Properties Limited on 20th September 2005 only a month later, at the cost of 88 million naira. What we now have on this plot is a six floor complex built by Chidol Properties instead of Suhaf Associates. We shall not be surprised if a simple investigation of the directors of Suhaf or the account that amount was finally transferred reveals a can of worms.

With the disposition of the authority to avoid the payment of compensation to the purported owners of Suhaf, it shall certainly retain the plot at the expense of the National Eye Center’s protest. However, there are many ways to get out of this conundrum, just as they did not expect a probe of such clandestine activities to take place only after a year of their relinquishing power. And then, only Suhaf shall compensate Chidol not the Authority, while the National Eye Center gets its plot reinstated. As once stated by the thriller maestro of the generation, "It’s when a guy is full of confidence that he gets caught up with the sucker punch".

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