By Ayooluwa Ayobami
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has disclosed how he revoked an unused land title previously granted to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the construction of judges’ quarters in Abuja after having dinner with the Managing Director of the company.
Speaking at the official launch of the judges’ quarters project in Abuja on Monday, Wike noted that the Federal Executive Council had approved the construction of 40 residential units for judges.
The quarters will be located in the Kantampe district within Abuja, with 20 units designated for judges of the FCT High Court, 10 for the Federal High Court, and 10 for the Court of Appeal.
Wike disclosed that he noticed the abandoned plot, which had been allocated to the construction company nearly two decades ago, while searching for appropriate land for the judges’ housing initiative.
The project is slated for completion within 15 months.
Wike while explaining how the revocation happened said: “When we were looking for land to build, I was driving around looking for empty land. And I got here; I saw this big land, and I saw the big post, ‘Julius Berger’.
“I didn’t talk. I called the director of lands and asked, ‘who owns that land?’ he said, Julius Berger. When was it allocated? He said about 15 to 20 years ago. 15, 20 years ago? Nothing has been done? I didn’t bother.
“So, I invited the MD Julius Berger to come. He came, and we had dinner. I didn’t talk about the land. The next day, he was in the office, and he saw the revocation letter as a matter of public interest.
“He called me and said, ‘but I had dinner with you.’ I said, ‘Yes; we had dinner, but we didn’t discuss about land’.
“The point is that, how will the government allocate land for more than 20 years for organisations to develop and they are not able to develop it? And thank God, they did not develop it…, if not we wouldn’t have had this land for us to think about constructing these magnificent buildings.”
, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed how he revoked an unused land title previously granted to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the construction of judges' quarters in Abuja after having dinner with the Managing Director of the company){kind=link}