Daily Trust.
How is the transition from writing to administration? The time I was writing a column on Abuja I was not a critic but somebody that was sharing information about Abuja city development, you find that the implementation of the Abuja Master Plan is going contrary to the original concept but then you have some implementation challenges. So when one sees where the implementation is going wrong you point it out so that government will make corrections.
At times there are things government officials don’t know; they need people to give them information, so that was how I was giving information. There were times when I see what I write in the newspaper highlighted by government officials and they will work on it.
Abuja Master Plan, even as a professional within the built environment, after graduation you must be oriented on the workings of the plan, and we had that privilege unlike what is happening now.
Is there still conformity with the Abuja Master Plan?
There are areas where there is conformity; many have conformed while many have derailed. At times the derailment could be because of circumstances; man proposes but God disposes. It’s possible as a town planner to have a particular plan but when you go on ground you face challenges as circumstances could change.
For example, the initial plan was to evacuate everybody from the city, to a have a no man’s land sort of, but when the government came in they realized that there were implications in evacuating everybody, like finance. The cost of evacuation superseded that of even building the city itself, that was why we have the concept of the original inhabitants; that they should be resettled in phases. And for example, 75 per cent of the FCT was carved out from Niger State, the land mass that left for Niger state is just 25 per cent, so if you are evacuating 75 per cent of people back to 25 per cent of the land, there would be no land to contain them.
So there is the option of resettling them within the FCT where there is vast land, 8,000 square km. So, all these challenges were there.
is
But there enforcement?
still Yes, there is enforcement.
What are the laws guiding property developers in the FCT?
Property developers should know whether their properties are residential or commercial etc., and whether it is low, medium or high density development. All of these categories have their building requirements. For low density you are supposed to put only two families, medium density four to six families while high density about eight families.
And for low density you cannot go more than two floors. Medium density two to three floors while high density four floors. Commercial properties have their own criteria, we have neighborhood centers and city center development; all also have categories like the height you can attain and percentage area coverage.
For all these you have to come to the FCT Development Control Department to obtain the development manual of the city. This guides developers on the do’s and don’ts.
Is it free of charge or for sale?
We sell it.
But there are several residential properties being
converted to commercial?
So many governments that came in the past allowed this conversion so long as you are able to pay some charges. But when we came in we found out that it is derailing the city. Example is Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Aminu Kano Crescent, all these, because they are bordering an arterial road they have access road within the neighborhood and therefore should not take access from the arterial but some developers convert such plots to commercial illegally.
During El -Rufai’s era they allowed people to pay heavily for conversion but many realized it was not worth it because you are paying more than whatever profit you are going to make. It was meant as a deterrent. So for those guilty of this, instead of sealing the property we say pay us a penalty, e.g. N10 million annually.
But we found out that even now people are not relenting, we have stopped the issue of conversion. We now seal such properties, like most of the night clubs in Abuja, they are disturbing the neighbourhoods with noise pollution. But many when we serve them notices, they go to court to frustrate our efforts but we will not relent.
How has professionalism impacted on government from your own observation?
Whenever you have an office that is subject to political appointment, at times you are lucky to have professionals. If you are lucky then you will succeed and make meaningful contribution to the system. In my case in AMMC you have to be a professional, thus putting square pegs in square holes and hit the ground running.
Apart from being a town planner you were also an academic. If you are to go back to school what will you tell your students about your experience?
At the university, I was instructing my students based on practical experiences; I took plans or reports for demonstrations, and they found them useful. After knowing the theoretical you then know the practical aspect, so I combined both.
missing the
Are you classroom?
I miss the classroom, and of course my students miss me. I recommend all professionals in government service to impart their knowledge and mentor the upcoming ones who would be more informed. So when I finish my service here I will go back to the classroom.
From the building plans submitted here for approval, is there strict adherence to the Abuja Master Plan?
There is not much difference between the National Building Code and the original building laws; there are a lot of similarities. Prior to the building code what we were implementing here was the 1992 Urban and Regional Planning Law, it lays emphasis on enforcement. As professionals in the building environment we relate with each other. A town planner comes in when the surveyor has completed his work, then architects, engineers come in and then estate surveyors and values.
How are you coping with refuse collection challenges and defacing of walls etc.?
It still boils down to the number of personnel. When we came in we sent proposals that we want more environmental marshals within the system, government approved but they are not as many as we want.
We have been creating awareness against defacing the city. If you look around, now that a lot of political activities are taking place you don’t see so many posters. We had to visit political party headquarters to tell them not to be defacing the city, and anywhere we see such we remove. If we apprehend anyone we take them to our environmental mobile courts, we make them clean the painting and charge them for contravention. But the problem is that the charges are very low.
How low?
As low as N5,000. We have submitted to the National Assembly a department of Outdoors and Advertising Signage DOAS law, for individuals it will be N100,000 for a poster, for corporate bodies N1 million. Another problem is graffiti, some by religious sects that are defacing the city. We are spending a lot.
On the issue of street lights, while some are not working, some would be on in broad daylight, why is that?
The first is vandalism. Vandals remove cables in the night, and we try to restore. We also have challenges of approval from the National Assembly, budgetary approval as at when due. Then contract for street light management; the contract expired at the time we were still seeking approval. Those subsisting, we cannot enforce to make sure the contractors work if their contracts are not reviewed.
But because we have excellent relationship with the contractors they work even without renewal because they know that they will eventually be paid.
If you look around, now that a lot of political activities are taking place you don’t see so many posters. We had to visit political party headquarters to tell them not to be defacing the city, and anywhere we see such we remove.