FCTA CLEARS SHANTIES ON TRANSITWAY NEAR UTC, ABUJA
By: Wisdom Acka
As part of the ongoing clean-up in the Federal Capital City, Abuja City Sanitation, on Monday, 11th August, 2025, removed shanties and cleared roadside commercial activities near UTC, Area 10, Garki, Abuja.
In a chat with journalists during the exercise, Director, Department of Development Control, Tpl. Muktar Galadima, who led the operation, said that it was following a directive by the FCT Security Council to rid the city of criminals and men of the underworld.
He said, “The UTC is one of the areas that has been listed as a hotspot or dark spot. And then today, while coming here, we noticed a kind of refuse dump that has been left unattended.
“So, we have to clear that site first before coming to the main area, where the hoodlums are. And on getting here, we have seen what is really disturbing and alarming. So, something serious has to be done. That’s why we’re here now.”
Galadima revealed that the dictates of the Abuja Master plan provide for a transit corridor in Abuja phase 1, and the Garki District.
“It’s a system that runs across the city – from here (Area 10) up to behind the Abuja Municipal Area Council headquarters, Ministry of Defence, towards Wuse, behind Fraser Suits, up to, Wuse Zone 3.
“It’s a system, so we call it the transitway system, which has not been developed yet. It’s a proposal, but it’s being maintained and protected against any instance of land grabbing,” he explained.
He further explained that, after clearance, the FCT Administration would take possession of the areas by fencing and put to use the lands that are commensurate and friendly to city development.
The Director stated that, the affected persons had been informed, and a reminder made since last week, “which means there was a prior notice.”
Reacting to a question on a social media video challenging his past operations in Wuse Zone 3, Galadima noted that it was inevitable for such an exercise not to encounter such challenges, and be misconstrued.
His words: “Notices were served as far back as October 2023, ditto 2024, and then February 2025. The mechanics operating around that area, we invited them for a meeting in our office. We met with them, we told them our plan to sanitise the area and to clear the area of all miscreants.
“Even the scavengers around that area, I personally visited their den and I told them that we are coming to remove this area. So that day, we moved, we operated, when we came back to mop up, we saw that the people were still there. And in fact, they were even hibernating in the shanties within the park.
“And it is also important to make the public know that the park was not destroyed. The Park which was allocated to Panorama, the park is in existence. Because when you go there today, the playground is there, the gym is there, even the lounge is there.
“So, all other facilities are there in the park. It is only those makeshift structures which are not different from the scavengers’ shanties that were removed. Nothing more, no structures.
“And notices adequate notices were served to the operators of those structures,” he repeated.
