The Centre for
Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has faulted the Federal Executive
Council's approval of the Land Swap Initiative of the Federal Capital Territory Administration
(FCTA).
The non- governmental organisation working to ensure good governance through the use of
information and communication technologies for peaceful coexistence and
sustainable development made its stance known on Thursday in a statement made
available to journalists in Abuja, a copy of which Humanity
Watch obtained.
The FEC had at
the end of its meeting on Wednesday announced that it was resuming the FCT Land Swap Initiative that was earlier
suspended by the government following allegations of corruption.
According to the
FEC, the objective of the initiative is to address infrastructure gaps in the
FCT by providing land to investors who in return will finance
infrastructure rollout.Worth about N1 trillion under the previous dispensation, the initiative was designed to remedy the infrastructure deficit in the FCT by swapping land with private investors who would in turn provide the necessary infrastructure.
However, CITAD says it is concerned that the initiative would further encourage land
grabbing which has dispossessed many indigenes of their farmland, as it advised the government to suspend the resumption of the land swap
initiative until it can guarantee that the initiative will not be another
avenue for corruption in the FCT land administration system.
The statement signed
by the organization’s Sponsorship Officer, Mubarak Ekute says: “CITAD has over
the last two years engaged rural communities of the FCT who are extremely
concerned about the phenomenon of land grabbing that is taking place in their
communities.
“Many have lost
their land which as farmers, it is their
only means of livelihood. Land grabbing is a major threat to food
security not only in FCT but all over the country.”
The statement said
while CITAD is happy to see infrastructure deficit being addressed in the
FCT, it is concerned
that the FCT rural communities who are landowners and therefore likely to be
dispossessed by the initiative, were not consulted before the decision to
resume the initiative was taken.
"Government has
not made public its findings of an investigation of the operation of the Land Swap
as it suspected that it was riddled with corruption. Government has not explain
how in the current phase of the initiative, corruption would be put at bay and
how the interests of rural communities would be taken into account in the new
phase of the initiative.”
“Government has
not address any complaints of land grabbing, land misappropriation and
dispossession that occurred in the earlier phase for which FCT rural
communities have been the major victims."
"FCT rural
communities did not benefit in terms of infrastructure development in the
earlier phase, this has led many of the communities hard to reach due to the
lack of roads; there is no drinking water; rural schools are scandalous sites
and healthcare facilities do not exist,” the statement read.
The organisation
therefore, advised the government to suspend the resumption of the land swap
initiative until: “It has carried out consultations among the citizens of the
FCT, particularly rural dwellers, and come up with concrete and realistic plan
for addressing rural infrastructure, not just infrastructure with in the FCT urban
area.”
CITAD also
advised the government to make public report of its investigation of the abuses
of the initiative in the first phase leading to its suspension and propose
clear, adequate and realistic measures to stop and mitigate the problems of
land grabbing in the FCT rural communities.
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