Abuja Collapsed Building: Aliero Revokes Land

Source: burningpot.com

By Deji Wale Fadeyi, Abuja
Following the collapse of a three-storey building under construction in Asokoro area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, last Friday in which one person died and 35 others seriously injured FCT Minister Senator Adamu Aliero has ordered the revocation of the land.


Senator Aliero gave the order yesterday at the weekly FCT Executive meeting and directed that the plot of the land be converted to a public garden in memory of the victims of the collapse.


Speaking through his Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs, Abdullahi Zuru, Senator Aliero who commiserated with the families of the victims of the collapsed building noted that the developer of the building defied the stop work order served to him by the Department of Development Control with a court judgment to continue work on the site.


Zuru at a post FCT Executive meeting press briefing reiterated that the plot No.1885 in Cadastral Zone A04 of Asokoro District has no building plan approval from the Department of Development Control adding that the approval was not given due to the ownership dispute over the land.


“The said plot of land has been in contention and the department of development Control had on May 2, 2008 and May 12, issued stop work notice and demolition notice respectively” he said.


He however debunked allegation by the developer of the structure that the Department of development Control delayed the approval of the land because the officials of the department were expecting gratification from him saying “we take strong exception to the issue of kick back about the department because the approval was delayed due to the dispute of over its ownership”.


The Minister's spokesperson added that the land was among those allocated by the former FCT minister Malam Nasir el-Rufai under accelerated approval which were expected to be developed under six months of approval stating that the developer was only having the Right of Occupancy (Rof) for the plot of land.

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