The Kwara State Government, North Central Nigeria has demolished some buildings it described as illegal structures along the popular Wahab Folawiyo (Unity) road in Ilorin, the state capital.
The Executive Chairman, Kwara State Geographic Information Service, Abdulkareem Sulyman said that the demolished structures were on the road setback of the State Fire Service Office and the Amusement Park along Wahab Folawiyo road.
He said that the exercise was to ensure that government offices and schools do not have commercial ventures in front of them, to guarantee the safety of lives and property.
Represented by the Director, Physical Planning Authority and Development Control, Sunday Idowu, the Executive Chairman disclosed that the exercise was the Nigerian government directive across all the 36 states of the federation.
He stated that Implementation of the directive was long overdue, stressing that due to the magnanimity of the Kwara State Government and the people-centric approach to governance, the exercise was stalled till now.
Sulyman further said that several removal notices had been served on the shop owners in accordance with the seven- day notice in the extant laws of the Certificate of Temporary Occupancy, stressing that the state government has been magnanimous with the shop owners for long.
Sulyman appealed to the public to desist from building on the road setbacks because it is unreliable for livelihood, adding that the exercise would continue in other places.
The Head of the Patrol Unit of the agency, Abdulkareem Moshood stated that all the demolished structures were illegal in the face of the law and affected traffic flow in the area.
He added that there was contravention on the road setbacks, and many shop owners have protruded to the walkway, advising members of the public to always contact relevant government offices before embarking on any development on the land.
Meanwhile, the treasurer of shop owners at Unity road, Mrs Tunrayo Moshood has appealed to the state government to resettle and compensate their colleagues whose structures were demolished.
According to her, the place has created employment opportunities for many unemployed youths who were hitherto roaming the streets without jobs.
Another shop owner at the demolished structure, Mr Sheriff Ajenifuja also pleaded with the state government to improve on it’s sensitization programme on the need for people to refrain from building on setbacks.
According to him, the demolition exercise would have been averted if the government had mobilised personnel to the site a week before to allow shop owners to remove their property.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
Comments are closed.