FCTA vows to remove all illegal structures

By: Wisdom Acka

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Monday flagged off massive demolition to correct violations and infringements on the Abuja Master Plan.

Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Egr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad who flagged off the exercise on behalf of the FCT Minister, Mallam, Muhammad Musa Bello, reiterated the commitment of the Administration to demolish all illegal structures and enchronment contravening the Abuja Master Plan.

Addressing security personnel drawn from various military and paramilitary agencies, he said that they were going all out to remove all illegal structures and enchronments in the nation’s capital.

“There are a lot of cases of violations and infringement of the Master Plan. All we are doing is to ensure that Abuja is sanitized, people cannot continue developing illegally with impunity. Wherever we identify as illegal settlement, we are bringing them down,” he stressed.

His words: “The FCT Minister has mandated us with the Directors of concerned departments to meet you and identify with your course, which is to sanitize the city to be the delight of the new capital city we desire, in line with the dreams of our forefathers.”

“The number of security men we have on ground shows our readiness and we should try as much as possible to obey the rules of engagement guiding the operation”, he said.

FCTA Director of Security Services, Mr Adamu Gwary, on his part, enjoined the security officers “To be guided by the rules of engagement during the operation, we are expecting that at the end of the day we will have a sanitized city”.

However, hinting that there would be “pockets of resistance during the enforcement exercise”, Gwary cautioned: “We don’t need to tell you about your roles in this kind of situation. There should be a lot of arrests”.

Gwary said there are people who are feeding on this kind of illegal activities. ” Your commanders have been all briefed before this address, we expect nothing but the best of this outing . We are professionals in our areas of endeavour “.

Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, Comrade Ikharo Attah, stressed: “What we are doing is what all of us will benefit from. Demolition and illegalities have gone beyond the function of Town planners.

“Demolition is purely an issue of security. When you clear the shanties, remove illegalities and follow what the town planning has set for you, then you can go and sleep with your two eyes closed. It will make our jobs a lot easier because criminals will not have a place to hide”.

On his part, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Adebayo Solomon promised that he and his men would give their best during the enforcement exercise.

Others on the entourage include top FCTA functionaries, including Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu; Directors, departments of Land Administration, Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), Development Control, and Chief Security Officer to FCT Minister, Adamu Jibrin Hussaini, Dr. Isa Jalo, Mukhtar Galadima and SP Rasheed Ahmed, respectively.