Wike: How I revoked Julius Berger land after dinner with the MD

Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), says he revoked the title of an abandoned land allocated to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to construct quarters for judges in Abuja.

Wike spoke in Abuja on Monday at the official flag-off ceremony of the design and construction of judges’ quarters.

In September, the federal executive council (FEC) approved the construction of 40 houses in Abuja for judges in the country.

Wike had told journalists that the judges’ quarters would be sited in the Kantampe district of Abuja, noting that 20 units would be allocated to judges of the FCT high court, 10 to those of the federal high court, and 10 to the judges of court of appeal.

The FCT minister said the project is expected to be completed in 15 months.

Wike said he was driving around the FCT to find suitable land space for the judges’ housing project and sighted the plot allocated to the construction company about 20 years ago, which was yet to be developed.

“When we were looking for land to build, I was driving around looking for empty land. And I got here; I saw this big land, and I saw the big post, ‘Julius Berger’,” he said.

“I didn’t talk. I called the director of lands and asked, ‘who owns that land?’ he said, Julius Berger. When was it allocated? He said about 15 to 20 years ago. 15, 20 years ago? Nothing has been done? I didn’t bother.

“So, I invited the MD Julius Berger to come. He came, and we had dinner. I didn’t talk about the land. The next day, he was in the office, and he saw the revocation letter as a matter of public interest.

“He called me and said, ‘but I had dinner with you.’ I said, ‘Yes; we had dinner, but we didn’t discuss the land’.

“The point is that—how will the government allocate land for more than 20 years for organisations to develop and they did not develop it? Thank God, they did not develop it, and now we can have it.”