Abuja’s Blueprint For Greatness: Wike Unveils Land Use Reform
Dr. Nafisat Makinde
August 8, 2025 – Abuja.
The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has inaugurated two ad-hoc committees to address widespread land use violations and disputes in Abuja.
The committees were given a strict two-week deadline to submit actionable recommendations.
The first committee, chaired by Barrister Salman Dako, General Counsel/Secretary of the Legal Services Secretariat, will investigate issues surrounding River Park Estate, focusing on alleged breaches of agreements between the FCT Administration and developers of the mass housing project.
The second committee, headed by Town Planner Mukhtar Galadima, Director of Development Control, will examine properties across the FCT where the original use stated in the Certificate of Occupancy has been illegally altered.
“The committee must examine these violations and propose actionable solutions within two weeks,” Wike emphasized. “If you have a C of O that its purpose is for residential, but go there today, it’s turned to commercial and that of course is in violation of the certificate that was issued to you,” Wike explained.
“The assignment must be concluded in two weeks. There will be no extension of time. So, if it requires you to sit from morning till night, may it be so. We are not going to delay,” Wike stressed.
“The 2025 budget has been assented to, but without funds, we cannot deliver infrastructure that benefits our people. Recovering ground rent is a priority,” Wike said.
Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory; Barrister Salman Dako, General Counsel/Secretary of the Legal Services Secretariat and Chairman of the River Park Estate Committee; and Town Planner Mukhtar Galadima, Director of Development Control and Chairman of the Land Use/Purpose Clauses Committee, were in attendance.
Wike directed the heads of Lands, AGIS, Development Control, and Urban and Regional Planning departments to immediately provide a comprehensive list of all defaulters on ground rent payments, including those from 2022 to 2025, for enforcement.
“So, all those that are owing, from the ones that have been published and the ones that are owing from 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, we have to provide it so that we start immediate implementation in order to receive funds that will aid us in the development of infrastructure,” Wike explained.