SAN FRANCISCO, May 31, (THEWILL) – The House of Representatives has begun its investigation into the alleged malpractices in the award and allocation of land to companies and individuals under the Land Swap programme initiated by by the immediate past FCT administration.
Declaring the investigative public hearing open, Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, noted that the facts available to the House showed alleged malpractices in the allocation of land to 25 investors under the Land Swap scheme.
Herman Hembe, Chairman of the Committee, pledged the resolve of the Committee to be fair and balance, as well as be guided by the submissions received in the bid to determine if the FCT followed due process as provided by the Public Procurement Act 2007 and Land Use Act.
“Having established the legality of our actions herein, accordingly, the Committee set out to do the following to ensure that principles of fairness, priority and transparency are entrenched in the process,” he said.
“We requested from Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre all relevant information and documents related to the Land Swap programme. We also requested some information from investors in the programme and have received as much communication on the matter as both the AIIC and investors showed a willingness to supply.
“We viewed the provisions of the Land Use Act, in relationships with the Land Swap programme to determine that the programme was not in conflict with the Act.
“We sought to identify if the ground rules set by the FCT through the AIIC for the conduct of the Land Swap programme were followed by the FCT itself and that the FCT ensured that the investors also followed the said rules.”
However, Bala Mohammed, former FCT minister, who pioneered the Land Swap programme, explained that the initiative was geared towards fast-tracking the development of various districts across the nation’s capital city.
He revealed that only N2 billion had so far been invested by government for the development of 10 districts.
Story by David Oputah
