2,000 Indigent FG Land Allottees in Gwagwalada Swindled By Officials

By Soni Daniel

Something despicable has just happened to over 2,000 poor Nigerians allocated land in Gwagwalada, a thriving suburb of Abuja. The strategic piece of land, measuring over 200 hectares, was allocated to the beneficiaries drawn from all parts of Nigeria in 1992 when the Federal Capital Territory was more of a village than a township. Then, it was like buying poverty to be given a piece of land outside Maitama and Asokoro, the two most developed and preferred districts of Abuja. The mighty and powerful who control the levers of government flock around the two areas while the poor seek solace in Nyanya, Suleja and Gwagwalada and other slumps that have sprung up near the FCT.

However, the land allocated to these ordinary Nigerians was properly laid out and advertised by the Federal Government under its Site and Services Scheme through the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (FMLUD). That was in 1992 when Gwagwalada was nothing but a thick bush burnished by searing sun, ravaged by insecurity and desecrated by land speculators.

But the ever optimistic and patriotic Nigerians, who had unwavering faith in the system, damned the negative factors and invested their money in the said area. As a result, as soon as the FMLUD advertised for the sale of the land, the allottees went forward, filled the papers and paid for the land.

In one of the allocations made with Ref No: FCT/SAS/GWAL/LD/73, the then Lands Allocation Committee approved and released allocations to the over 2,000 Nigerians for the building of houses. To underscore the importance attached to the project, the Federal Government specifically designated the estate as a low density facility and clearly marked out the area from other programmes slated for Gwagwalada.

All the allottees were given the land for an initial period of 99 years and to pay premium ranging from N1000 to N3000 depending on the size of their plots while the ground rent, due for review every ten years, was pegged at N100 only.

It was a thing of joy for most of the beneficiaries, who are civil servants to be granted such allocations by government and their joy knew no bounds, especially as the price of land and house rents began to hit the rooftops as the years went by and owning a house in any part of the FCT became a status symbol.

Although the allottees might have found it difficult to clear their premium at once due to the paucity of funds at the time the land was given to them, most of them had paid up their premiums and collected their title deeds such as Certificates of Occupancy.