The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike, explained his decision on Wednesday to engage Senior Advocates of Nigeria to handle 800 litigation cases involving the administration, lamenting that lack of diligent prosecution of cases in the past by FCT officials led to the loss of numerous cases.
Wike said that there were instances of FCTA officials colluding with plaintiffs to obtain verdicts against the FCT Administration.
This was said by the minister while defending the FCT’s N61 billion supplementary budget before the National Assembly Committees on the FCT.
Wike said, “I have never seen a territory with over 800 litigation pieces. Some of these court cases were in connivance with staff of the FCT.
“So, I said I will engage SANs because I don’t want a situation whereby someone will go to court and then agree with the plaintiffs and judgment is entered against the FCT.”
The minister, who stated that the budget components were project-specific, added that President Bola Tinubu will launch the majority of them, including the Abuja Metro Line, by May as part of the President’s one-year anniversary celebrations.
Concerning security, the minister stated that the administration will resurrect the city’s mass transportation system in order to minimize incidents of “one chance,” adding that private operators would be subjected to security screening before being allowed to operate in the system.
He stated that he was collaborating with the National Security Adviser’s Office and the State Security Services SSS to install closed-circuit television CCTV cameras in crucial areas of the city.
In response to a question on the destiny of victims of the administration’s demolition activities, Wike stated that Nigerians could not want a world-class federal capital territory while making excuses for unplanned and illegal developments.
He said, “We can’t stop demolition. You cannot go and build in a green area, and then when we demolish, you want us to compensate you. Illegality is illegality. But if we want to acquire your property for development, we will pay you.”
Wike also promised to terminate some public-private partnership agreements inked into by the FCT Administration with private developers, claiming that those agreements had previously been used to defraud the administration of billions of dollars.
