The Authority of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished the popular UTC Shopping Complex in Abuja.
FCTA said the over 30 years old complex had to be demolished to give way for the needed rebuilding of the place.
The administration said the structure was overdue for restructuring to fit into a shopping complex model required to grow SMEs to address global business needs and challenges.
The Deputy Director, Monitoring and Inspection, Department of Development Control, Hassan Ogbole said the structures were defective and there was a need to upgrade it to meet global business standards.
Mr Ogbole noted that provisions had been made for the traders and other occupants of the complex to enable the reconstruction of the place.
He also stated that enough notices had been given to the occupants of the place to move out and allow the construction to start, but many of them refused to vacate.
According to him, “The place is in a state of disrepair. The place is no longer habitable for occupation and business activities. The place had to give way for a new development.
“The company handling the development had informed the Development Control and we are here to enforce compliance. We have given them enough notice for them to remove their goods, to enable us start the work”.
Earlier, the Secretary, Command and Control, FCTA Department of Security, Peter Olumiji said demolishing the Complex was also needed to curtail the criminal activities prevalent in the place.
He disclosed that plans to remodel the place were carefully designed to end the thuggery that rubbishes the image of the place, especially the faking of official documents.
One of the traders in the Complex, Samuel Onuchukwu, disclosed that many of the traders were yet to remove their goods and properties from the shops and offices.
According to him, they woke up early in the morning on Saturday to learn that the whole UTC area had been barricaded, and demolition was ongoing, with people’s goods still trapped.
Emmanuel Ukoh
