Address plights of FCT natives – Complaints commissioner tells FG
By Sadiq Abubakar, Abuja.
The Commissioner for Public Complaints Commission in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ezikiel Dalhatu Musa, has called on the federal government to take immediate action in addressing the plihgts of the natives of the territory.
He said the natives has been facing injustices, discrimination, and human rights violations suffered by the original inhabitants of the FCT by successive administrations, saying it is time for the government to address their plights.
Musa, made the call at a stakeholders’ meeting organized by the Abuja Original Inhabitants Youths Empowerment Organizations (AOIYEO) titled “Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on Development Plans and Strategy: Achieving Abuja’s Functionaries, Political Structures and Security,” which held at the Conrinthia Villa hotel in Abuja on Wednesday.
He highlighted the challenges faced by the original inhabitants since the relocation of Nigeria’s capital from Lagos to Abuja, which he said such challenges include displacement of the natives from their ancestral lands.
He added that FCT natives has also been facing environmental hazards, insecurity, and marginalization.
“And despite repeated agitations by the FCT natives, successive governments have failed to address these issues effectively,” he said.
He said as Nigeria prepares for another democratic transition, there was urgent need to tackle some of the challenges facing them.
He, however, observed that the Abuja Original Inhabitants’ Youth Empowerment Organizations (AOIYEO) under its executive director Comrade Isaac David, has outlined a comprehensive plan that aims to achieve crucial objectives such as legal recognition of citizenship status, amplifying community voices in decision-making processes, reviving cultural values, and improving access to essential services.
He, therefore, stressed the need for constitutional amendments that would treat the natives of the FCT as a state of the federation, adding that granting them state status would also provide legal recognition of citizenship.
for the original inhabitants.
“Besides, as the watchdog of society, the Public Complaints Commission possesses the authority to investigate administrative actions taken by government departments and agencies,” he said.
He revealed that the commission has received numerous complaints from the original inhabitants regarding issues of illegal demolition of their ancestral homes, lack of compensation for allocated lands and environmental degradation caused by quarry companies.
