The Federal government has denied reports of the planned demolition of 1,500 houses in the Xhidu community near Lugbe Phase II in Abuja.
Head of the Press and Publicity Unit, Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Kenneth Chigelu, disclosed this in a statement.
Last week, it was widely reported that residents in the community alleged that the FHA planned to demolish their houses to accommodate a housing estate to be built by a private developer.
According to the residents, FHA’s decision “blatantly violates constitutional rights, disregards their welfare as citizens, and tarnishes Nigeria’s global reputation.”
Meanwhile, FHA said it was not responsible for the planned demolition.
“The authority wants to correct the wrong impression created by some land grabbers, who have consistently misled some innocent Nigerians by extorting money from them by selling government land.
“Federal Housing Authority acquired a parcel of land from the Federal Capital Territory Administration for housing development and carried out an enumeration exercise and subsequently paid compensation to the farmers,” it said.
According to Chigelu, the illegal development happens to be at the right of way of Ring Road, which services the entire area.
“Consequently, eight months ago, FHA and FCDA embarked on the identification of all the developments that fell within FHA’S land and the ring road three (for removal) to pave the way for the development of the land,” he added.
Chigelu noted that the authority had called on all persons laying genuine claims to the land to come forward with proof of ownership and approval to build for documentation.
“It is, therefore, surprising that some persons would come up with outlandish claims that the Federal Housing Authority is planning to demolish the entire Zhidu community, giving them only two weeks’ notice.
“The authority would not be distracted or deterred by the ambush tactics of the acclaimed leaders of the community; FHA would never accommodate any slum development within any of its estates.
“We reiterate that persons with genuine claims to any portion of land in the said community that fell within FHA’s parcel of land should come forward with all relevant documents and approval to develop for documentation,” he asserted.
The development comes barely two months after the FHA demolished 677 houses and partially demolished 774 houses in Festac Town in Lagos.
