Barr. Nyesom Wike, the new Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister spit fire on Monday after being sworn in, threatening to demolish all illegal houses, structures and buildings within and around the nation’s capital, no matter how highly placed the owners of those properties may be.
Wike, 44 other ministers Sworn in by Nigerian President
Wike, who took his oath of office alongside 44 other newly appointed Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, gave the warning on Monday afternoon in Abuja.
The FCT Minister said houses that had been built to distort the Abuja Masterplan, as well as built on green areas, will also be demolished, no matter who it did or did not belong to.
Wike says at a news conference in Abuja on Monday to announce the short, medium, and long term plans to overhaul the FCT and reposition it among the best cities in the world.
As the new sheriff in town, he said: “It is not going to be business as usual. Those distorting Abuja Master Plan: if you build where you are not supposed to, the building will go down.
“If you build on a green area, sorry, it will go down. Those who were allocated land and refused to develop them, we will revoke such lands and re-allocate them to those who are ready to develop them.
“Those who don’t pay ground rent, we will not notify them to do so, but I will not be tired of signing revocation notices.
“Uncompleted buildings that have become a safe haven for criminals will be reclaimed by the government and put them to good use.”
“All those people who are distorting the Masterplan of Abuja, too bad. If you know you have built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down.
“Be you a Minister of anywhere, be you an ambassador, if you know you have developed where you were not supposed to develop, your house must go down. Those who have taken over the green areas to build, sorry, our parks must come back, the green areas must come back. If you hate green, you must hate yourself,” Wike said.
“The big and mighty, I will step on them. If you are doing what is wrong, I will do what I am supposed to do”, noting that his task was to return the FCT to what it used to be, rather than as a witch hunt against anyone.
