The Federal Capital Territory’s Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission has intervened in the dispute between the host community of the Paikon Kore Grazing Reserve in Gwagwalada Area Council and the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory.

Leaders of the community had petitioned the Commissioner over an alleged breach of agreement they reached with the FCTA before the land was acquired for the reserve. In the petition, they alleged that they gave the FCTA ten conditions before the land was handed over to them out of which nine were met but the last one, which was for compensation to be paid and some portions of the land to be allocated to them for farming was yet to be met. Asides from the unmet conditions, they also alleged that the Ministry went beyond the 9,000 hectares of land that was mapped for them to encroach further on their community lands. According to them, they have been meeting with representatives of the Ministry since 2017 for negotiations to resolve the issue but no headway was made prompting them to approach the Commission. They prayed for the Commissioner’s intervention to get the Ministry to abide by the conditions they earlier agreed on.

The Commissioner on receipt of the petition called for a parley between the community leaders and the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority’s (FCDA) Mandate Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim in his office. At the meeting, Ibrahim disclosed that the said land was gazetted in 1985 as an Agro-Processing Zone which is now used for the Federal Government’s National Pasture Development Programme (NAPDEP). He further explained that efforts have been ongoing in trying to reach the initial agreement but the process usually takes time to be completed. He said the Ministry has equally been making efforts to build a school, health centre and provide employment opportunities for the host community as part of the compensation package.

On the encroachment of the community lands, the Commissioner in the company of the State Director of the Commission, Hajia Salamatu Jummai Mamman and a team from the FCDA, Mandate Secretary’s office went on an on-the-spot investigation in the community on Sunday, January 29, 2023, to verify the claims. At end of which he said he will meet with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to find an amicable resolution of the issue.