Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

A city-wide sanitation exercise carried out yesterday by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) led to the demolition of over 1,000 shacks and illegal shanties blocking the road corridor in Karsana, Bunkoro District in Gwarimpa, Abuja.

The Director of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, said the operation by the FCTA joint task force targeted squatters and people of questionable character who were squatting in the area.

The exercise was carried out along the proposed Ring Road 3 corridor at the intersection of N16 and RR3, where there is the Map Global Estate.

Galadima noted that the purpose of the exercise was to enhance security in the territory.

According to him, “When you look at these structures, they are mostly made of shacks and temporary materials. So far, so good, we have cleared more than 1,000 around this place,  and we are about to continue, because the work is enormous and the stretch of the road is as long as 2 kilometres, all consisting of shacks and shanties.

“We have had a discussion with relevant authorities, which they had said that for now, the RR3 is not yet awarded, but the N16 has been awarded, and the work is in progress. We have been informed by the Department of Resettlement and Compensation that there are some indigenous communities on the corridor. That’s why we tried as much as possible not to interfere with the existence of such communities.”

The clearance activities, according to him, will continue today in collaboration with the Department of Resettlement to identify genuine properties belonging to indigenes.

The FCTA Director, Command and Control Unit, Peter Olumuji, representing the Director of Security, Adamu Gwary, said the operation highlighted the nexus between development control and security.

He explained that no arrests had been made in the course of the operations.

“Well, this Map Global Estate axis, which has other estates, has been a great source of concern for those residing within the estate. And you will know there is a nexus between development control and the security of their lives and property. And what we have seen here is that we noticed, because we have indigenous communities here, that these criminal elements try to make shanties behind those indigenous communities to serve as a cover to their own shanties.

“And with what we have done today, most of the residents who have passed through this place really praise the good effort of the FCT Administration. And like the director has said, it is going to be a continuous clearance. We are not just going to leave it, we are going to take over this place,” Olumuji said.

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