JUST IN: Minister rejects Nigerian Customs’ plea on revoked land

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has rejected the Nigerian Customs Service’s request for reconsideration of its revoked land by the FCT Administration.

The minister had ordered FCTA to revoke unused plots of land, leading to top politicians, organizations and government agencies losing lands.

On Wednesday, customs officers led by the Acting Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, visited Wike to make a case that the affected land be returned.

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Adeniyi requested land to build primary and secondary schools for the children of the more than 2,000 customs officers residing in the FCT.

“I read your letter on the revoked land, very bad; very bad; very bad, but what do I do? When we gave you the land, you refused to use it; FCT will now sell it to you, and when we give you Certificate of Ownership, you pay our ground rent.

“I will give you the opportunity to buy the land from FCT and give you the value of the land now,” he said.

He said that FCTA would support the service to achieve its aims and objectives, but lamented how government agencies were allocated land in FCT and refused to develop them.

On the land for school development, the minister assured the customs boss that it would be considered but on the condition that the agency would pledge to develop the land within a specific period.

Failure to comply, the minister said that the land would be revoked.

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“Schools, very important. It is not only the children of customs officers that will attend the schools.

“My policy now is that, before we give land to any agency, it must commit that it will develop the land within a certain number of years and if not developed, the FCT should take back the land.

“I will not allocate land that will lay to thy kingdom come. So, you must convince me that you are indeed really serious about building schools for the children of your staff and our children,” he said.

Another condition, according to the minister, is for the service to pay ground rent as when due.

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“Be rest assured that I am going to approve the land for the school. You bring the application; I will sign it and give it to the director of lands to give the land that you can use,” Wike said.

Earlier, the customs boss said that the visit was to congratulate Wike on his appointment as the FCT Minister and the outstanding work he has done so far.

He described the customs service as a critical stakeholder in the FCT with more than 2,000 officers residing in the FCT and contributing to the development of the city.