History is a school which only those who deceive themselves refuse to learn from. Nobody should ever deceive themself that whatever got changed in the development programme of the Federal Capital city due to any selfish aggrandisement using the opportunity of being in power is going to be hidden or be sustained.
We had a period in the past where the master plan implementation was marred by distortions of all kinds. Lands earmarked for hospitals and other land uses, were changed and allocated for use as commercial, residential or even hotels. Irrespective of the positions of the new land owners, which land use was distorted, the obnoxious decisions that brought the distortion were always reversed, immediately, as soon as another administration set in.
Leaders who can’t control their utterances, and with the habit of making implicating statements, would arrogate themselves absolute knowledge, by embarking on changing the professional and standard practice, meant for the well-being of the system and the city, simply because they are in power, forgetting that the train is transient.
Most of such allocations are made to the beneficiaries for speculations, not actual developments. The new owners, or those who bought the lands would always be told to secure the lands, by hurriedly commencing development. So long as the allocation is a product of changed land use, it would certainly be wiser not to commence the development. This is because the easiest reason to advance for demolition of property by any FCT Administration is if it is for the violation of Abuja Master Plan. And why not? Because all new ministers, till date, without exception, always make the protection of Abuja Master plan their mantra on the first day of their office.
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Abuja is beautiful today because the previous leaders have passionately guarded and prevented the master plan against violation, contrary to those who would pompously claim that the plan was produced by humans and are subject to changes, without any concrete reason other than selfishness.
If the sanctity of the master plan is not protected to make us arrive at what is met, and proudly have today as the nation’s capital, the city wouldn’t have attained its present status of attracting the interest of all citizens including foreigners. It also includes the new administrators who would consider their appointment as avenues for making money, by the unscrupulous misappropriation of the Abuja lands.
Areas earmarked for greening are usually the soft spots of administrators, blinded by greed. Some people could be uneducated, even when they attended schools. When informed or advised, they would arrogantly refute and would pompously refuse to reason, that it was for nothing that the earmarked areas were preserved for a very long time before their ascension to power. If such would be the priests, then God bless the congregation.
The fact is, there is no green area in Abuja city today, which remains in a very prominent location that is free for grab by anybody. Almost all of them have a history of attempted violations, which failed.
The city master plan recognises the importance of its greening for so many reasons, from ensuring ecological balance to curb the threat posed by global warming which is considered the gravest threat to life on the planet generally, to ensuring visual quality and improvement of aesthetics for the city through tree plantings along the streets and stream lines, to deliberate policy of preservation of natural forests, creation of artificial parks for recreation and the planting of trees in all premises within the city.
The land use budget for the city’s development earmarked 33 per cent for Open Space and Recreation. Most of these spaces are preserved over the years. The Department of Parks and Recreations was created specifically to protect the areas earmarked for the city greening.
Mischief makers that would like to violate the green areas for other uses could advance reasons that they are being mismanaged. Such ‘reasons’ are only stunts, neither cogent nor tenable. Otherwise, all the green areas would have disappeared long before the administration. As a government that wields enormous power of enforcement, changing the land use should never be an option, if not for ulterior motives. All lands earmarked as green areas must never be violated. If not for anything, but for mitigation measures against global warming, which is real.
All the previous administrations, without exception, were responsible and deserve the credit for the achievements in the Abuja development programme. The Tinubu administration, with Nyesom Wike as the FCT minister, will certainly earn its credit, wherever it deserves, and finally hand it over to its successor to continue from where it leaves.
On the other hand, it can bequeath the system with infectious disease as a result of wrong implementation of the development programme, and must be cured by its successors in order to be back on track. Otherwise, the city sinks and loses its values, and the citizens bear the consequences
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