FCTA demolishes 134 houses

The Federal Capital Territory Administration on Saturday demolished 134 houses at Apo Akpmajenya indigenous community to pave way for the construction of a major road network in the area.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the exercise was coordinated by the FCT Task Force on City Sanitation, under the leadership of Ikharo Attah.

Briefing newsmen shorty after the exercise, Malam Muktar Galadima, the Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, explained that the community had been marked for demolition since January.

Galadima said prior to the demolition, the FCTA, through its relevant agencies, interfaced with the inhabitants of the settlement on the need for them to vacate the area.

He said the area fell under the corridor of the planed Outer Southern Expressway.

He said the community fell on one of the road interchanges linking Oladipo Diya Road, which is an arterial road with the outer southern expressway.

Also, Malam Nasir Suleiman, Deputy Director, Planning and Resettlement, Department of Resettlement and Compensation, said 131 houses and 169 plots were given as compensation to the affected persons.

Suleiman said the FCT Administration had provided a plot of land for the community Chief’s house, comprehensive development and commercial plots.

He said most of the affected individuals had already moved to Apo Resettlement Scheme quarters, adding that a few of them had yet to move.

He further explained that the policy of the Federal Capital City was to resettle all the indigenous people affected by the demolition.

On his part, Malam Baba Lawan, the Director of Abuja Environmental Protection Board, said the village constituted an environmental nuisance and monumental waste generation entity.

Lawan added that on daily basis, trucks of waste generated from the village were carted away to the central dump site.

According to him, about 80 per cent of activities going on in the village are commercial because the place is not a traditional Gbagi village.

He said: “The village is now occupied by commercial people who are mainly traders and they generate lots of waste and those wastes are deposited even on the road.”

He said the Akpmajenya village also caused traffic gridlock in the axis due to its location around Oladipo Diya Road and Apo Mechanic Village Road junction.

Contributing, the Director, FCT Department of Security Services, Malam Adamu Gwary, noted that the village also served as a hideout for criminals where stolen property, including cars, were taken to.

Gwary used the occasion to reiterate the determination of the FCT administration to continue to provide adequate security for lives and property in the territory.