The Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, has said that one of the most challenging assignments of his office is land matters.
The minister gave the insight on Monday in Abuja at the 20th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023).
The scorecard series was organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture to showcase the achievements of the Buhari administration.
Responding to a question on why he was not allocating lands to individuals who subscribed, Bello explained that accessing land in the FCT was not as easy as it was 20 years back.
He said many individuals that were allocated land in the past 10 years were just holding onto the allocation papers but refused to move to the sites to build.
Bello explained that the essence of allocating land to people was to build, but that a situation where some people would not even locate their land and take possession was not acceptable.
He also identified the challenge of infrastructure in districts where many individuals had been allocated land.
He said because the necessary infrastructure was yet to be provided, the allottees might find it difficult to occupy their lands and build on them.
Mohammed also said that because of inadequate funds, the FCDA encouraged private sector participation, as well as Public-Private Partnership (PPP), in providing infrastructure to some districts in the territory.
The minister, therefore, encouraged those yearning to get land allocation to go through private developers or form cooperative societies for the purpose.
Speaking on the security situation in the territory, he said the government was on top of the situation, noting that he received security reports on an hourly basis.
He added that for every one reported case of crime in the territory, 10 had been foiled by security agencies who worked round the clock to keep the FCT safe.
