The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has begun the forceful removal of structures along floodplains and water channels in the territory.
The exercise, which coincided with the commencement of the rainy season, was initiated to avert further loss of lives and property caused by deadly floods due to blocked channels.
Carrying out the minister’s directives on the exercise on Monday, the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), through its coordinator, Felix Obuah, expressed shock at attempts by a developer to construct a concrete pavement over a river channel in Utako district.
He also led heads of relevant agencies on a joint site visit to the Guzape area of the territory, where desperate developers raised buildings and culverts along waterways.
“We want this to serve as a lesson to other developers who take the law into their hands. Right today, we have mobilised equipment, materials, and machines. They are right here. You witness it. Most of all, those buildings that are not supposed to be, that do not have approval, will go down. And this is not the only one. Any other building that does not have approval, or that is built in a waterway, in a road corridor; it is no longer business as usual.”
Obuah, who was also infuriated by the level of encroachment into the floodplains by the developer of City Scape Estate Villa at Guzape District, said the FCT Administration will not fold its arms and watch developers risk the lives of subscribers.
Obuah therefore ordered the immediate demolition of the illegal buildings and culverts on flood plains in both districts, stressing that the FCT Administration under the leadership of Nyesom Wike will not hesitate to go after any developer contravening town planning laws and building approval.
He also threatened to sanction district officers who compromise on their duties of identifying and reporting building contraventions before they become a challenge.
“We are no longer going to take chances with any officer. We don’t want to do this work. They have been paid their salaries. They have been taken care of.
So there is no reason why the Minister of FCT, Chief Administrative Officer of the UK, is doing everything, having sleepless nights, to change the narrative of Abuja, while some grunt elements are busy sabotaging the effort. We can’t allow it. That is why we have invited all of you to see what we are seeing and do the needful.”
Reacting, the Director of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Osilama Braimah, condemned the alteration of the natural features of the areas.
He added, “Apart from economic sabotage, one can actually see what is in terms of environmental sabotage. The civil servants have rules. We are going to go back to the rules and put the appropriate measures that any officer is going to have.”
On his part, the Director of the FCT Parks and Recreation Department, TPL Chinemelu Echee, said it is rather unfortunate that in spite of public awareness on the impact of global warming, some individuals and developers still dare to tamper with the natural order.
“I actually got a marching order to look into the activity, and then upon coming here we had to go back to the archives of the already approved design that was given to them. And upon checking the approval, we were kind of seeing some infractions that were not in alignment with what was originally given to them. As this place is, just on this part of the corridor of the plot, what was originally given to them to build on this particular area is 18 structures. But on the ground, when we had to do a site analysis report with some of our town planners, we found that we were having about 42 buildings as against 18. So that led to our report through the coordinator and the director of building control to see that this is what we met on the ground.”
