Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Mohammad Bello has ruled out compensation for owners of demolished illegal buildings.
But, Bello assured that the FCT Administration will pay for any land or structure legally acquired by authorities to provide infrastructure or public facilities.
He also backed the task team on city sanitation, adding that the ongoing demolition exercise in the country’s capital is to correct infractions of the Master Plan.
Bello disclosed this yesterday in Abuja in a chat with reporters on the ongoing demolition exercise in the FCT.
According to him: “It’s something that occurs as part of the daily work of enforcement. Unfortunately, in the recent past, particularly during COVID-19 when most members of the inspectorate staff were not able to cover the city, a lot of people began building illegal structures.
“The policies and guidelines for building in FCT are very clear and well documented, the laws are there.
“So what we are doing is basically to remove infringements so that the issue of compensation will not arise because everything is illegal.
“But there are some areas as part of our urban renewal and upgrade. If we need to take off building either to expand the road corridors or create facilities for essential services, obviously these ones will be compensated. It has always been happening.”