After months of delays and hiccups the Federal Capital Territory Administration, finally flagged off the payment of cheques to farmers in karshi, to pave way for the full commencement of the Muhammadu Buhari Affordable Housing project.
Though the groundbreaking ceremony of the project performed on October 1st 2021, suffered some setbacks, the administration is optimistic that the partnership with private developer will not only provide houses to her teaming staff, but also bridge the housing deficit in the capital city.
At the ceremony witnessed by relevant stakeholders on Monday in Abuja, the Coordinator Satellite Town Development Department, STDD, Obinna Ogwuegbu, said the administration was particularly pleased that the project was finally coming to fruition months after the initial hiccups experienced after the ground breaking ceremony last year.
Ogwuegbu, who stood in for the Minister of State FCT, Dr Ramatu Aliyu, added that the final take off of the project at such a time as this, goes to show the premium investors have in the template the administration has developed towards providing infrastructure, opening up the satellite tows, as well as providing housing for Nigerians in dire need of accomodations across the capital city.
Ogwuegbu, while commending the developer for stepping up to pay the compensation, pointed that in the past, the burden of such exercise would have entirely fallen on the shoulder of government alone.
“The fact that investors can go out of their way to put their money down for compensation despite the fact that they are going to build houses in collaboration and partnership with the FCTA Administration is highly commendable.”
He further disclosed that the office painstakingly went through every record of the beneficiaries over a long period of time to ensure that proper figures and exact persons were enumerated and compensated inline with it’s extant laws as enshrined in the constitution.
Earlier, the Director Resettlement and Compensation, Perpetua Ohamah, explained that her office did everything to ensure that international best practices were followed before commencing on the project.
She commended the traditional ruler of Karshi and his people for their patience and cooperation, saying that the citing of this new project will no doubt bring about the needed development to the area.
“Like you know, the job of my department is that of preliminary works for every project that has to do with land in the FCT, and for this particular one as well, we have had to do the valuation and follow up to make sure money was made available for us to pay the indigenes,” she stated.