FCT minister warns traditional rulers against illegal land sale

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Bala Mohammed, has warned traditional rulers in the territory to desist from selling land.Mohammed gave the warning on Monday, in Abuja, when he addressed Graded Chiefs and District Heads in the FCT's Traditional Council.The minister said that the meeting was necessitated by the need to acquaint all the stakeholders with the challenges of resettlement and compensation to the government.According to him, the illegal sale of land in the FCT constitutes serious challenges to security, development control as well as resettlement and compensation to the government.``It is only the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that has the powers to allocate land and has delegated such responsibility to the FCT Minister,'' he said.Mohammed said that any action outside that was null and void and could not be allowed to continue as unsuspecting Nigerians kept losing their fortunes to such illegalities.The minister regretted the growth of illegal structures and shanties around the FCT, stressing that the development would not be condoned.Mohammed said that President Goodluck Jonathan had given additional attention to the challenges of the territory, and gave an assurance that the area councils and the satellite towns would be made more habitable.He urged the support and cooperation of residents and traditional rulers to stop the ``menace'' threatening the peace of the city.Mohammed promised to look into the traditional institution in the FCT in order to reduce its problems.In her address, the Minister of State of the FCT, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide, said that the partnership between the FCT administration, stakeholders and the natives would take Abuja to the next level.``We have instructions from the Federal Government to restore the Abuja Master Plan and to improve sanitary conditions of the entire FCT, which must be achieved collectively,'' she said.Earlier, responding on behalf of his colleagues, the Ona of Abaji and Chairman of the FCT Traditional Council, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, had thanked the minister for the meeting.He hoped that the government would always carry them along in its activities.
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