FCT original inhabitants seek land protection framework in Abuja master plan review
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The Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organization wants the review of the 1979 Abuja master plan to create a community development and integration framework that protects ancestral land and property rights.
Natives of the Federal Capital Territory, under the auspices of the Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organization (AOIYEO), have asked the committee reviewing the Abuja master plan to establish an Abuja Original Inhabitant Community Development Policy and Integration Framework.
In a statement issued in Abuja by its executive director, Ambassador Isaac David, the group said the framework should guide how indigenous communities are treated, ensuring they are respected, preserved, integrated and developed within the capital's planning process.
AOIYEO said the framework should also address violations of natives' rights to land and property and their right to live in their communities, as well as the demolition of original inhabitants' houses across the territory. It asked that indigenous people be included in every development initiative in the FCT, with protection for their cultural heritage, ancestral lands and livelihoods.
The group recalled that the original 1979 plan proposed evacuating indigenous houses from the FCT, but that the resettlement programme was never fully implemented, leaving communities omitted from the plan. It argued that the current review is needed to reflect rapid population growth, infrastructure expansion and changing urban needs, and to reposition Abuja as a world-class smart city.
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike appointed the executive secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Engineer Richard Yunana Dauda, as chairman of the Abuja Master Plan Review Committee. AOIYEO said it believed the review could end the exclusion of original inhabitants from urban planning and pledged to work with the committee and the minister.