The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen.<\/p>\n
Dino Melaye, has decried the construction of illegal structures on the
\nMaitama Hill by some prominent Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Melaye, who made the condemnation during the budget defence of the
\nMinistry of Federal Capital Territory, said the committee had given a
\ndirective for stoppage of construction at the site immediately.<\/p>\n
He said the 8th Senate would not tolerate any move by any Nigerian to
\ndissipate the FCT by changing its original plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beautiful Maitama Hill has been dissipated and shared by people who
\nrefer to themselves as powerful Nigerians.
\n\u201cThis is not acceptable to the 8th Senate and to this committee and this
\ncommittee, in the interest of Nigerians, will not allow any construction
\nto continue on the Maitama Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201c Apart from the fact that we have stopped work, the green there must be
\nreplanted and the trees immediately restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not, out of fear, refuse to do our work. So, this morning, I will
\nannounce to Nigerians the powerful Nigerians, who shared the Maitama Hill
\namong themselves and we will not stop at that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to sit with you Mr Minister to ensure that there is
\nimmediate correction. Nigeria belongs to us, the FCT is the beauty of this
\ncountry, modelled after the Capital of Brazil,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
He urged the current FCT Minister, Malam Mohammed Bello, to ensure that
\nthe original plan for Abuja was restored.<\/p>\n
He said while countries were working on salvaging the environment from the
\neffect of climate change, some Nigerians, out of selfish interest,
\nappropriated a green area to themselves.<\/p>\n
He urged the FCT minister to also investigate the Vice-President\u2019s
\nresidence which kept recurring in the budget.<\/p>\n
Melaye said the variation in the construction of the building was above
\nthe initial project cost.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201c it is ridiculous and with the way corruption is being planted
\nin this project it may never be completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever it comes up in the budget, there is variation and now it is
\nlaughable, ridiculous and unacceptable and totally embarrassing that the
\ncost of variation is above the total cost of the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Mr Minister, look into that because it has to stop this time.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Dino Melaye, has decried the construction of illegal structures on the Maitama Hill by some prominent Nigerians. Melaye, who made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n