To prepare the way for the construction of the 4.2km second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the Federal Government has announced N825.819million as compensation for locals of the affected community in the Federal Capital Territory.
Following a meeting with Festus Keyamo, 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, on Tuesday, Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, announced the decision.
According to the minister, the N825.8 million is intended to entice the people to leave the neighborhood and solicit their assistance in completing the 4.2 km second Abuja runway project, which was originally awarded in 2022.
The second runway project was divided into four parts, and the Federal Executive Council had approved it in March 2022. By June 2023, the project was also supposed to be put into operation.
However, a portion of the Jiwa Community, which houses the runway, protested their displacement from their traditional grounds and demanded compensation from the government.
At a Tuesday meeting with community members and other stakeholders to discuss problems, Wike said he understood their suffering and would do everything in his ability to ensure they received their just compensation.
He therefore ordered the immediate payment of N825 million in compensation to the impacted landowners.
In reference to the decisions made during the meeting, Wike stated: “Contractors will now arrive on site. We have been able to resolve amicably with the community. The Federal Capital Territory Administration and the Ministry of Aviation will each provide 10 jobs for the Jiwa community and 12 jobs immediately as part of the community incentives. With a 5 km road, we’ll build the Tunga Madaki Bridge, which will be included in the 2024 budget. For the benefit of the community, we’ll build a cutting-edge medical center.The agreement reached between the government and the Jiwa Community will be signed by the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Aviation and the FCTA, His Royal Highness (the Sarkin Jiwa), the Chairman of the AMAC, and the Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission (FCT). If this is done today, tomorrow, or the following day, the contractors won’t wait any longer because they must move to the site right away and start working. Therefore, the second runway is now permanent.
“I understand how you’re feeling. I am from a place where the government has essentially stolen all of our land for development. I’ll carry it on my head if there’s anything I can do to make you happy. But the fact still stands that right is right and wrong is wrong. We wouldn’t be in this situation if the Aviation ministry had only focused on the runway project; instead, they arrived to take over the FCTA’s responsibilities.
“There is only one runway here. If something were to happen to that runway tomorrow, how would you feel? That indicates there won’t be any flights. In a vast, diverse metropolis like Abuja?” he questioned.
Festus Keyamo SAN, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, had earlier claimed that the ministry had erred by getting involved in matters outside of its purview.
According to Keyamo, “We haven’t even mobilized to the site by now. The schedule to commission the second runway was somewhere in June or July 2023.Assessing compensation on regards of land in the FCT is not Aviation’s area of expertise. I’m making this appeal to the community to realize that anything you previously discussed with aviation was completely beyond of its purview. The FCTA is allowed to take that action. Payment of compensation must follow a specific legal timeline. The repercussions of disobeying the law are known to us. The phrase “rule of law” does not just refer to the government. Anybody can use it.
We can consider creative solutions in the domain of social responsibility to explore how we might secure additional benefits for the populace in addition to the legal minimum compensation requirements.
As previously explained by Shehu Hadi, Executive Secretary of FCDA, FCTA has no business compensating land occupiers because the land was issued to a third party.
He asserts that anyone who is offered land has a responsibility to pay the current residents of that property compensation.
“I would like to address the topic of payment of compensation, which was brought up. It is important to make it clear what the FCT believes about this matter at this point. Following our allocation of lands to them, it is the MDAs’ responsibility to make arrangements for the payment of compensation.
‘The Department of Resettlement and Compensation in the FCT assists in the enumeration of economic trees, structures, etc. for compensation,’ he said.
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. He also expressed his understanding of the frustration of his people, saying that the back and forth regarding compensation had been giving him sleepless nights for months.
We sat alongside the Aviation and FCT Administration, he stated. Aviation has a consultant for the compensation, but they sat with us and the FCTA was an observer; we have agreed with the consultant that they will pay N2.5m per acre in some specific terms.
“So, at long last, the government declared that the FCTA should handle it and that Aviation lacked the authority to do so. The price per hectare thereafter dropped to under N700,000. In response to a letter from the community to the FCT Public Complaints Commission, discussions were held in my palace up until yesterday to ensure that the matter is resolved in the interests of the general public.
