The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Thursday commenced the demolition of houses in Abuja, a move that triggered a mixture of fear and anger among residents.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the operation was carried out under the auspices of the FCT Ministerial Taskforce Team by the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Mr Ikharo Attah.
He disclosed that over 100 illegal houses would be affected.
The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Mr Ikharo Attah, who led the operation under the auspices of the FCT Ministerial Taskforce Team, disclosed that over 100 illegal houses would be affected.
According to him, no compensation would be given because there was no building approval.
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‘This is an ongoing removal of illegal structures on the flood plain at the Trademore Estate, Lugbe, along Airport Road. This estate has been a theatre of flooding, very intensive flooding here and we have been engaging them for years,’ Attah said.
‘And they have come to terms that this area is very dangerous to their lives and the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has asked us to remove all illegal structures on the flood plain.
‘There has been excessive development on the floodplain in Trademore Estate, Lugbe, by some persons and this is very worrisome. All the houses that are going down were marked and some have been marked three years ago.’
Attah said that some of the affected structures were marked at foundation, window and roofing levels, adding that the final marking was about four days ago.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the demolition was coming barely 48 hours after the federal authorities issued a notice, a situation that made residents accuse the FCTA officials of putting them in an embarrassing situation.
Speaking to journalists, the Chairman of Trademore Estate Phase 2, Uchechukwu Moses, said residents of the area were angry because the FCT minister approved just 23 houses for demolition but they observed that over 96 buildings were actually marked to be pulled down.
‘Our residents are gathered in concern and in fear. The moment Control were in our estate yesterday to mark houses that are supposed to be demolished, the concern is that from the papers, we learned that 23 houses were approved but from the count that we did yesterday, over 96 houses have been marked,’ he said.
Other residents lamented that even buildings that have experienced floods previously were marked for demolition, wondering what their plight would be.
While wondering if the flooding situation would change in the nation’s capital as a result of the demolition, the affected residents said the FCTA authorities claimed they just wanted a free flow of the flood.