Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi, on Friday signed the amended Abakaliki Capital Territory Development Board bill into law, warning that any person or persons building within the radius risk the demolition of the structure.
The bill which was earlier passed in 2007 stipulates that areas within 50km radius of Abakaliki fall within the new capital
city, as the amended law – 002 of 2014 – expanded the areas of radius coverage to 1, 625km.
Elechi warned that anyone erecting structures within these areas must consult relevant authorities.
“Failure,” he said, “would attract demolition and we would even charge the developer to pay us the costs of demolition.”
The governor pointed out that the capital territory now covers all the ring roads around Abakaliki, noting that though the relevant authorities placed signposts along major highways across the state to indicate areas that fall within Abakaliki, it was still difficult to understand.
“It then became imperative that we choose a well-known feature that would leave no one in doubt of areas that are truly covered within the capital territory,” he said.
Elechi spoke at the swearing-in of the newly constituted six-member Land Use and Allocation Committee headed by Mr Simeon Alo.
He charged the committee: “Your duties are to purely advise the government on allocation of land, payment of compensation to those whose land would be used for public interest, etc.”
