Any building approval application after 90 days is deemed granted -Galadima

Favour Ishember, Abuja

The  Federal Capital Territroy Administration(FCTA) has resolved to grant the approvals of building plans  in 90 days, as the era of waiting for Months or years may just be over

Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, Muktar Galadima gave this indication while speaking at a workshop organized to train the department’s staff on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

Galadima stated that Nigeria’s Urban and Regional Planning laws stipulate that building plan approvals should be granted to applicants within 90 days.

According to him, failure to grant such approvals within the stipulated three months was tantamount to consent, acceptance and approval hence applicants could even commence development as applied. “Silence is approval”, he affirmed.

Galadima therefore urged the participants to list attentively to all resource persons and make good use of the the workshop as it pertained to their responsibilities.

Director, Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu who spoke as special guest at the workshop, disclosed that the FCT Administration would commence implementation of performance management system which means that “work will practically be online and staff will be made to account for the roles they play according to their assigned schedules”.

Ahmadu added: “There will be no more APER, which allows people to just fill it and it is signed. We are going to have digital civil servants”.

She however, listed certain ingredients for efficient and improved service delievry to include improved staff welfare, as well as healthy and conducive “because for you perform maximally, you need working tools and conducive working environment”, she said.

An Assistant Director in charge of Vetting with the Department of Development Control, Dr. Mohammed Zayyanu who served as a resource person, outlined some of the advantages of the SOP to include elimination of errors, increased productivity and maintenance of chain of order.

Others are maintenance of consistency in operations, efficiency, time saving and dogutalozation of processes for the enhancement of over all productivity