This was made known by the national president of the institute, Chief Steven Onu, during a working visit to the headquarters of the Abuja Metropolitan Manangement Council (AMMC).
Onu commended the council for its efforts to contain the activities of overzealous developers, most of who flout the town planning laws of the country with impunity, saying, “The city of Abuja cannot be developed on sentiments where developers will flagrantly flout laws and turn around to appeal for sympathy.
“I have gone through the attacks on your department by developers. Some of the attacks are misguided and misinformed while some are just appealing to emotions and not to reason. My observation is that most of the developers will do anything to breach the law and when the long arm of the law gets them, they will turn around and blame town planners.”
The NITP boss assured the council that the institute will defend the actions of the department from unnecessary attacks by overzealous developers whose structures were removed on account of unlawful and unauthorised developments.
In his remarks, the AMMC Coordinator, Arch. Reuben Okoya, applauded the institute for its show of solidarity, saying developers are becoming daring.
Okoya said, “We thank you for your show of solidarity at a time like this when illegal developers are becoming daring and confrontational in their nefarious activities.”
The Head of Public Relations of the council, Mr. Ifeanyi Ughammadu, in a statement, quoted Okoya to have assured the institute that the council will not abandon its mandate of ridding the FCT of illegal structures even as he appealed to developers to obey the laws and follow due process before embarking on any development in the territory.
