By Oladipo Abiola

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has given approval for 21 plots of land located in the Central Business District (CBD) of Abuja to be revoked.

The directive of the Minister was confirmed in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary in the FCT Administration, Olusade Adesola which contained the revocation notice.

Naija News understands foreign embassies, government agencies, and institutions as well as individuals are affected by the fresh action taken by the Minister.

The notice said Wike took the action “in the exercise of the powers conferred on him under Section 28(5)(a) & (b) of the Land Use Act 1978,” adding that the lands were revoked “for continued contravention of the terms of development of the Right of Occupancy to wit non-development.”

Some of the allottees affected by the revocation include Lowe Lintas, Tourist Company of Nigeria, Coscharis Motors, CFA Motors, and Chidol Properties among others.

The land revocation is different from those in the list published last Friday.

Similarly, as earlier reported by Naija News, the Director of Information and Communication in the FCTA, Muhammad Sule, in a separate statement also revealed that the Minister has given a three-month grace period for 189 titleholders, who have obtained building plan approvals but are yet to commence development on their property.

The property owners in question are to begin building plans within the stipulated grace period or have their title revoked in line with the provisions of the law.

This grace covers individuals and corporate organizations who have shown the desire to develop their property by obtaining building plan approvals but are yet to start proper development on their property situated within the Federal Capital City (FCC).

The statement read: “The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), has graciously approved a grace period of three months from the date of this publication for the under-listed titleholders who have obtained building plan approvals to commence development of their plots; failure of which their titles shall be revoked for continued contravention of the terms of development of the Right- of –Occupancy.”

This platform understands that 21 embassies/diplomatic missions, and 168 others are affected by the grace period.

Some of the diplomatic missions are the Embassy of Ireland, the Embassy of France, the Canadian High Commission, and Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Embassy of Turkey, and Embassy of the Peoples Republic of Angola, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Embassy of Philippines and Tanzania High Commission.

Others are the Embassies of the Syrian Republic, Iran, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Thailand, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Cote d’Ivoire, Argentina, Togo, and Indonesia.

Equally affected by the three-month grace are the Abuja National Mosque Council, Abuja National Mosque Management Committee, Daily Times of Nigeria, Elf Petroleum, Access Bank, Federal Housing Authority, Adamu Ajuji Waziri, Isa Yuguda, Eyitayo Lambo, Abba Gana, Mohammed Abubakar Rimi, Nigerian Navy, Gamji Construction Limited, Lagos State Liaison Office, Nigeria Customs Service, John Kennedy Opara, Federal Fire Service, the FCT Administration and others.

“The owners of these plots were exempted from revocation because they have already demonstrated firm commitment towards developing their property by obtaining necessary documents from the FCT Administration.

“It urged the affected property owners to take advantage of the Minister’s gesture and develop their plots as published in some National Dailies, in line with the terms of the Offer of the Right- Of- Occupancy.

“The FCT Administration, therefore, appealed to the affected Public Institutions who have been allocated plots within the FCC to commence development of their plots, failure of which their titles shall be revoked for continued contravention of the terms of development of the Right of Occupancy.

“The plots in these categories belong to individuals and corporate organizations, as well as Public Institutions who have continually failed to keep to the terms of the agreement as contained in Section 28(5) (a) & (b) of the Land Use Act offering and conveying of the Right of Occupancy,” the statement noted.

-NaijaNews