The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in its vow to remove all infractions in the capital city, on Monday flagged off a massive end of the year demolition exercise to restore violations and infringement of the Abuja Master Plan.
The Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Egr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad who flagged off the demolition exercise on behalf of the Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, reiterated the commitment of the administration to demolish all illegal structures and encroachments contravening the city’s Master Plan.
Addressing security personnel drawn from various military and paramilitary agencies, he said they are going all out to restore all illegal structures and encroachment in the nation’s capital.
According to him, “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 illegally with impunity. Wherever we identify as illegal settlement, we are bringing them down.
“With the number of security men we have on ground now, shows our readiness and we should try as much as possible to obey the rules of engagement guiding the operation”, he said.
Also, the FCTA Director of Security Services, Mr Adamu Gwary, enjoined the security officers to be guided by the rules of engagement during the operation.
He however hinted that there would be pockets of resistances during the enforcement exercise, “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 has been all briefed before this address, we expect nothing but the best of this outing. We are professionals in our areas of endeavor “.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, Comrade Ikharo Attah, said what “we are doing is what all of us will benefit from. Demolition and illegalities have gone beyond the function of Town planners.”
Saying, “demolition is purely 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 close. It will make our jobs a lot easier because the criminals will not have a place to hide.”
On his part, the CSP, Adebayo Solomon, promised to give their best during the enforcement exercise.
