Whenever the name Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) or Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) comes up or in the news, it’s always because of one reason which is demolition of buildings/properties. Whenever you see those names trending just know that they have demolished a property in the Federal Capital Territory or are threatening to demolish a property around the Abuja municipal area council.
The FCDA recently demolished some properties valued at billions of Naira some days back in the federal capital territory and acts like this are of common occurrence. It is more like they are always happy to demolish or pull down buildings.
Truth be told that the FCDA or the FCTA does not just demolish a building out of personal vendetta or out of sheer greed as many have accused them; for a building or buildings to be pulled down by this agency of government, that building most have been wrong situated; just like in the Joseph Kpokpogiri’s saga that trended sometime this year, the building was situated in an area that have been marked for building of express high while some other buildings that have been demolished by the FCTA/FCDA must have been situated in areas that have been reserved by government to be used for one activities or the other that are of national interest.
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Also, before a building will be demolished, the authorities must have issued a series of notices and warnings for the owners of the building or its dwellers to vacate such a building.
But the FCDA and the FCTA have become power- drunk that they act as the jury and the executioner most times; most of the property they demolished are done without valid court order which ought not to be so.
FCDA does not have powers to demolish any building without the order of the court, and that the law only empowers the authority to give notice to the owners or dwellers of the building after which the authority is expected to approach the Court for valid demolition order before taking further steps to demolish any building.
This is to say that the due process of the law and how it ought to be done in a civilized society like Nigeria is for FCTA or FCDA to give notice to the owners of the buildings that are not properly situated while they approach the court of competent jurisdiction to grant them power to demolish a building.
Therefore, every building or property that FCTA/ FCDA have ever demolished without first obtaining proper court order to that effect is illegal and the owners of those property are entitled to enforce their rights against the government agency despite the fact that their buildings was wrongly situated but any agency of government that want to enforce the law must enforce the law by following due process.
You need to go peruse the law establishing FCDA/FCTA to know if they are legally empowered to demolish after due notices have been served without recourse to a court order. Moreover, Nigeria is not a developed society. The question remains: is their a court judgment that a court order must be obtained before demolition?
I get what u t saying , but what law r u quoting , check the fcda act section 7(2), it empowers fcda to demolish without a court order and it even empowers fcda to collect the cost of demolition from the person. That built on the land , so please state the law that u r using to make those claims
Well said. Ignorance of the law that established development control is what is bothering them. Any building that was demolished illegally will be compensated. But you have to provide genuine Tittle documents, Approved building drawings, Setting out approval and stage by stage approvals.
Sorry, if I may ask. Who is in charge of approving plans and permission to build in FCDA/FCTA? Have the owners of such buildings been given permission to build? If not they have run fowl of the law. If yes, the person who approved should be call upon for questioning.
If FCDA/FCTA approach a court before doing their work, the case may linger on for decades.
This is an irresponsible article. Very empty. Abuja is not animal jungle. You can’t even mention the specific area demolition is taken place and let’s educate you. Go back to law school.
Any structure that was demolished illegally compensation will be paid. In such a situation you must provide genuine title documents, approved building drawings, setting out approval and stage by stage approvals up to certificate of completion. Anything short of that the structure remains illegal and liable to be demolished.