By Innocent Odoh The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has directed the Development Control Department of the FCT Administration to take full responsibility for building plan approvals and construction supervision in the Territory in accordance with extant regulations.
The Minister gave this directive in reaction to the unfortunate incident of building collapse on Monday at Gwarinpa. He reminded the Department that in line with the provisions of Section 7, Sub-section 1-3 of the FCT Act of 1976 and Part II, Section 27-41 of the Nigeria Urban & Regional Planning Law of 1992 amended in 1999, no person or body is authorized to carry out any development within the FCT without the written approval of the FCT Department of Development Control.
Bello also directed the Department to ensure that the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), that approved and was supervising the collapsed building, and other stakeholders in mass housing development subsector in the FCT to henceforth adhere strictly to all regulations on property development in the Territory.
He said further that the FCT Administration will no longer ignore the construction of buildings on flood plains and will take necessary measures to correct the anomalies.
While sympathizing with the victims of the incident, the Minister said that human lives often lost in the process of building collapse can be avoided if simple urban and regional regulations were sternly followed.
He emphasized that his Administration would not fold its arms to watch the wanton waste of lives; stressing that human life is sacred and must be protected.
