Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Yesterday, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) began a week-long massive demolition of illegal structures in Kuje in an effort to rid the satellite town of crime and reduce the proliferation of illegal structures obstructing human and vehicular movements in the area.
The demolition occurred a few days after the Boko Haram attack on the Kuje Prison, after months of sensitization and the expiration of authorities’ notices to illegal occupants to vacate the area.
Hundreds of structures were removed during the seven-hour clean-up operation, including kiosks, containers, attachments to stores and worship centers, shanties, and signposts encroaching on road corridors.
FCTA officials arrived with bulldozers to demolish roadside encroachments ranging from the notorious Tipper Garage to the main market in Kuje, while some illegal squatters frantically salvaged some of their belongings before the demolition team arrived.
The exercise was sanctioned by FCT Minister Mohammed Musa Bello and was overseen by FCT Police Commissioner Sunday Babaji and other security heads in the territory, according to Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement.
He stated that the minister was dissatisfied with the severe violations at Kuje, noting that the multiple violations, including illegal settlements, extreme road encroachment, roadside trading, and rail corridor encroachment, made Kuje a very dangerous area.
He estimated that the clean-up would take a week due to Kuje’s concern in some areas of insecurity.
“From Tipper Garage to the main market, we were able to address the problem of roadside encroachment today.” We also visited the fruit market. “We will claim the rail corridor, the entire rail corridor, tomorrow and keep it safe so that children can play,” Attah said. “Kuje was identified four months ago. And we’ve been waiting a long time, so what they saw today is a word of caution.”
