Abuja land swap: Investors take position as natives endorse initiative

Development analysts would readily tell whoever cares to listen that Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, is a city perpetually under construction, raising concerns that, in 30 years, much is still left to be done.

The problem of infrastructure in Nigeria as a whole is mind-boggling, but in Abuja where the aggregate infrastructure development, since its existence, has not been more than 25 percent, the problem is both fundamental and critical.

Worried about this development, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), which has Bala Mohammed as minister, came up with what was a novel initiative in this part of the globe – the Infrastructure-Land-Swap Policy – to open up and develop the city through infrastructure provision.

As the name implies, land swap is an arrangement in which private sector players are given parcels of land in return for the provision of critical infrastructure.

According to its promoters, the Land-Swap model, as it applies to the FCT, “means providing infrastructure in exchange for land, thus setting up the implementation thrust of transforming the FCT by opening up the new districts through construction and completing access to the new districts”.

Characteristic of native land owners anywhere in the world, this initiative was resisted by Abuja land owners including traditional rulers, youths and even some non-native self-seeking civil society organisations who saw it as a ploy by government to dispossess them of their property.

The good news, however, is that these land owners, after series of consultations, have seen the benefits in this initiative, and the minister has assured investors that “majority of the affected natives are beginning to see the merits of the land swap initiative, based on the package for their welfare in form of resettlement and compensation”, stressing that “the youths, traditional rulers and women have shown remarkable understanding”.

A good number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed by the FCTA with investors and at the last count, 13 of them have taken position. These include Rosehill Group, Afri-International Projects Limited, Bolmus Nigeria Limited, Ridley Group, CRCC Nigeria Limited and Hongye Group.

Others are AM-PM Global Network Limited, Urban Shelter Infrastructure Limited, Gilmor Engineering Services Limited, First Aries Petroleum & Development Consortium Limited, PIMA International Limited, and Ketti Infrastructure Limited.

Dangote Group, which also expressed interest in the initiation, has got extension for signing the MoU, while Adkan Services Limited did not respond.

The target is to provide at least 10 new districts by 2015 and, according to the MoU, FCTA is to grant agreed percentage of land in a Greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a Special Contract using the Land Use Act, and in exchange for the grant, the developer is to provide the primary infrastructure in the agreed district without any financial, technical or demand risk on the part of the FCTA.

By: Chuka Uroko & Harrison Edeh