The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has rejected the Nigerian Customs Service’s request to reconsider its revoked land by the FCT Administration.
Leading reporters that the minister had ordered FCTA to revoke unused plots of land, leading to top politicians, organisations and government agencies losing lands.
Customs officers led by the Acting Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi, on Wednesday visited Wike to request that the affected land be returned.
Adeniyi requested land to build primary and secondary schools for the children of the more than 2,000 customs officers residing in the FCT.
Wike, however, declined to return the land but offered to sell it to the customs service. He also warned that the land would be revoked if not developed within a specific period.
He said, “Schools, very important. It is not only the children of customs officers that will attend the schools.
“My policy now is that, before we give land to any agency, it must commit that it will develop the land within a certain number of years and if not developed, the FCT should take back the land.
“I will not allocate land that will lay to thy kingdom come. So, you must convince me that you are indeed really serious about building schools for the children of your staff and our children,” he said.
The minister said he was willing to support the customs service to achieve its aims and objectives but lamented how government agencies were allocated land in FCT and refused to develop them.
He said that his new policy was that before land is given to any agency, it must commit to developing it within a certain number of years.
Wike also said that the customs service must pay ground rent when due.
