Officials of the Development Control Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council have begun the demolition of houses on waterways in EFAB Estate, Lokogoma.
The demolition started at about 2 pm yesterday and more than five houses including two churches in the estate would be affected.
The chairman of the EFAB Lokogoma Landlords’ Forum, Alhaji
Shetimma Gana Mohammed said the demolition contravenes an earlier agreement
with the FCT Administration. He said the government had promised to verify
building approvals to ascertain if the off-takers or developers contravene
building regulations.
“If the FCTA said those houses don’t have approvals, why should the developer
sell the houses to the off-takers? Some of the owners bought the houses in
trust, they are civil servants while some have retired to the village,” he
said. He described the demolition as unfortunate adding that it could have been
avoided if the developer had done proper channelization of water instead of the
developer describing flooding in the estate as a natural disaster.
An official of the agency, at the scene of demolition said houses already
marked for demolition within 20 metres from the waterways would be demolished.
Some affected residents were seen removing fittings and valuables from their houses when the bulldozer and pall loader of the agency got to the estate. The director, Development Control of the FCTA, Muktar Galadima said the authority embarked on the demolition as a proactive measure to save lives.
“Something is already bad and we were there to salvage the
situation. We have been telling them to come with their approvals. We have been
shouting that if they have valid title documents, they should bring it so that
we can value their property and compensate them,” he said adding that the
government had to “save lives before we talk about verification.” Daily Trust
