FCT natives back Abuja master plan review, ask for ancestral land protection
- A group of FCT original inhabitants has welcomed the review of the 1979 Abuja Master Plan.
- It wants a new policy framework to protect ancestral lands and stop demolitions of indigenous homes.
- The group praised Minister Nyesom Wike for including natives and naming an indigene to chair the committee.
Original inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory have thrown their weight behind the ongoing review of the 1979 Abuja Master Plan, saying it is a chance to fix what they call their exclusion from the capital's original blueprint.
The group, Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO), made its position known in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday and signed by its Executive Director, Amb. Isaac David.
It described the review as a bold step that should have come long ago, and said it should do more than make Abuja a modern city. In the group's view, the exercise must also settle the rights and interests of the people whose communities were there before the capital was built.
What the group is asking for
AOIYEO wants a new Abuja Original Inhabitant Community Development Policy and Integration Framework written into the reviewed plan. It said the framework should set out clearly how indigenous communities will be respected, preserved, integrated and developed as the city grows.
The group said the 1979 plan proposed moving indigenous residents out of the FCT, but the resettlement programme was never fully carried out. Because of that, it argued, the current review is the moment to make sure every original community is captured and documented in the new plan.
It also asked that future projects in the territory take the interests of original inhabitants into account, and that their cultural heritage, ancestral lands and means of livelihood be protected.
The statement listed the concerns it wants addressed: what it called violations of the rights of original inhabitants to land and property, their right to keep living in their ancestral communities, and the demolition of indigenous houses in the FCT.
Praise for Wike and the committee
The group thanked the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for starting the comprehensive review and for approving the inclusion of indigenous people in the process. It said that inclusion gives natives a chance to contribute ideas on how Abuja should develop.
It also welcomed Wike's appointment of the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr. Richard Yunana Dauda, as chairman of the Abuja Master Plan Review Committee. AOIYEO, which noted that Dauda is an indigene of the FCT, called the appointment historic and a sign of the minister's commitment to fairness and to recognising original inhabitants as key stakeholders.
The group said it was ready to work with the committee and the minister, and expressed hope that the review would end the era of exclusion and open a new chapter of inclusive planning for the capital.
