To clear the way for the construction of the 4.2km second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the Federal Government has granted N825.819million in compensation for locals of the impacted community in the Federal Capital Territory.
Following a negotiation meeting with Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, officials from both ministries and representatives of their agencies, as well as stakeholders from Jiwa, the affected community in Abuja, the minister of FCTA, Nyesom Wike, made the announcement on Tuesday.
The N825.8 million, according to the minister, is intended to encourage the community’s people to leave and to enlist their assistance in completing the 4.2 km second Abuja runway project, which was originally given a 2022 completion date.
The second runway, which was divided into four halves, has been approved by the Federal Executive Council in March 2022. Also planned for completion by June 2023 was the commissioning of the project.
However, a portion of the Jiwa Community, where the runway is located, protested their removal from their traditional grounds and demanded compensation from the government.
Wike stated that he understood their suffering and would do everything in his ability to ensure that they received their dues during a Tuesday problem-solving meeting with community members and other stakeholders.
As a result, he ordered the affected landowners to receive N825 million in compensation right once.
Speaking on the meeting’s resolutions, Wike said, “Contractors will now proceed to the site. We have been able to resolve amicably with the neighborhood. The Ministry of Aviation and its agencies, where applicable, will provide 10 jobs from the Federal Capital Territory Administration and 12 direct jobs to the Jiwa community as part of the community incentives. In the budget for 2024, we will build the 5 km-long Tunga Madaki Bridge. For the community, we’ll build a cutting-edge healthcare facility.The agreement reached between the government and the Jiwa Community will be signed by the Permanent Secretaries from the Ministry of Aviation and that of the FCTA, His Royal Highness (the Sarkin Jiwa), the Chairman of the AMAC, and the Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission (FCT). If that is done today, by tomorrow or next, the contractors will no longer delay because they must move to the site immediately and start working. The second runway is now a permanent fixture.
“I am aware of your feelings. I come from a place where the government has essentially seized all of our land for development. Therefore, if there is anything I can do to make you happy, I will do it. However, the fact that what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong does not change. We wouldn’t be in this situation if the Aviation ministry had only focused on the runway project; instead, they came to take over the FCTA’s responsibilities.
We only have one runway. What if something bad happened on that runway tomorrow? It denotes the absence of flights. In a metropolis the size and diversity of Abuja?” he asked.
Festus Keyamo SAN, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, had already claimed that the ministry had erred in the past by getting involved in matters outside of its purview.
“We have not even mobilized to the site by now,” Keyamo added. “The schedule to commission the second runway was probably in June or July 2023.Aviation does not have the authority to determine compensation for land in the FCT. Therefore, I want to remind the public that anything you previously discussed with aviation was completely beyond of its purview. The FCTA has the authority to take that action. The payment of compensation must follow a specific legal timeline. We are aware of the consequences of breaking the law’s rules. The phrase “rule of law” refers to more than only the government. It applies to everyone.
We might look outside the box in the area of social responsibility to explore how we can obtain additional benefits for the populace in addition to the legal requirements for recompense.
The FCTA has no business compensating land occupiers because the FCTA issued the land to a third party, as Shehu Hadi, the Executive Secretary of FCDA, had earlier confirmed.
He asserts that anyone who receives a land offer owes the current residents of the land compensation.
“I would like to address the topic of payment of compensation, which was one of the points brought up. Here is where it is important to make the FCT viewpoint on this matter clear. After we have given the MDAs lands, it is their job to create plans for the payment of compensation.
He said, “The FCT Department of Resettlement and Compensation assists in the enumeration of economic trees, structures, etc. for compensation.”
Idris Musa, the Sarkin Jiwa, the area’s traditional ruler, urged the FCTA and the Aviation Ministry to increase the compensation from less than N700,000 so that the people could purchase other lands, explaining the frustration of his people and saying he had been having sleepless nights over the compensation dispute for months.
We sat with the Aviation and FCT Administration, he remarked. In terms of compensation, aviation has a consultant, but they were the ones that sat with us and the FCTA was an observer. We have an agreement with the consultant that they will pay N2.5m per hectare.
Finally, the administration stated that the FCTA should handle this and that the Aviation had no authority to do so. Then, the price per hectare was less than N700,000. The neighborhood sent a letter to the FCT Public Complaints Commission, and up until yesterday, we held meetings at my palace to make sure that this matter was resolved in the interest of the general public.
