Crime / Entertainment / News

BBNaija’s Dorathy accuses EFCC of breaking into her home

Dorathy Bachor, former housemate of Nigerian reality TV show, Big Brother Naija, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of breaking into her house.

The reality TV star took to her Instagram Stories page on Monday, August 23, 2021, where she narrated what happened at her residence.

”What is the need of being a citizen in this country if I can’t feel safe in my house. It’s 5:am and I’m literally shaking and so upset right now. At 4:45 I heard a loud sound and voices followed after, I rush out almost naked to see 5 fully armed @officialefcc men in my living room,” she wrote.

“One of them said ‘oh na that big brother babe be this’ in my confused stated I asked what the hell was going on, why did they break down my door.”

Then one of them said they were looking for someone who ran into my estate and I should lock my door, stay inside and lock my door.”

The reality TV star said the incident almost gave her mother a panic attack.

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Business / News

What Abuja Land Swap initiative means for real estate sector, investors

Once again, investors and the federal capital territory administration (FCTA) Abuja are back to the table following approval for resumption of the ambitious Land Swap Initiative by the federal executive council (FEC) early last week.

The Abuja Land Swap initiated by the Bala Mohammed administration was valued then at N1 trillion. It is the short form of the ‘FCT Land Infrastructure Swap Initiative’ designed to address the infrastructure deficit in the FCT.

In simple terms, the initiative means engaging the private sector to provide infrastructure in exchange for land. The aim, essentially, is to open up new districts in the FCT by constructing and completing access roads to those districts.

Apart from freeing government land for economic activities such as real estate and industrial development, the initiative also solves one of the major problems of urban or city development which is the provision of a good network of roads and associated infrastructure.

It is also an answer to real estate sector development in Nigeria where investors and property developers estimate the cost of infrastructure at 30 percent of total construction cost.

The implication is that the initiative will not only increase housing stock, but also reduce house price, and ultimately bridge the housing demand-supply gap in the country put variously at 17, 20 and 22 million units, depending on who one is speaking to.

It is expected that construction activities resulting from infrastructure development and housing delivery will have combined capacity to create, at least, 2,000 direct construction jobs on an ongoing basis. It is expected also that many of the workers, skilled and unskilled, will come from the catchment districts, thereby empowering the people economically.

As the federal capital city, Abuja, like Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve center, is experiencing a high influx of people and this is already putting pressure on available facilities in the city. The organization growth rate of Abuja is conservatively put at 30-40 percent per annum.

Similarly, the population of the FCT currently is estimated at 6 million whereas the Abuja Master Plan envisaged …