Bulldozers from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) plowed through Mpape community on Wednesday, removing over 2,000 roadside shanties, containers, and other illegal structures that were obstructing traffic.
After more than three months of warnings and notices, the decision was made.
As early as 10 a.m., the infuriated bulldozers pounced on the area, smashing all illegal structures along the road corridors.
The Mpape community has been exposed to successive demolitions since 2004, when slums like Idu-Karimo and other squatter colonies in Abuja were evacuated.
According to the Federal Capital Territory Administration, residents and landlords had made heartfelt requests to the Minister to spare them from the traffic jam that had made life intolerable in the area.
Residents and landlords had made passionate appeals to the Minister to save them from the traffic gridlock that had made life in the area unbearable. The demolition, which came as a thorough sanitation, was requested by residents and landlords who had made passionate appeals to the Minister to save them from the traffic gridlock that had made life in the area unbearable.
The Mpape Residents and Landlords Association had pleaded with the Minister six months ago to intervene since illegal commercial operations had taken over the road corridors, according to Comrade Ikharo Attah, Chairman of the FCT Ministerial Committee on City Sanitation.
Attah indicated that the cleanup and destruction were long overdue, and that the focus was on roadside shanties and other unlicensed structures hindering traffic.
“Residents and landlords who flocked to FCTA to help demolish Mpape have requested that the Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, come and clear the road corridors.
“As a result, what we’re doing is in response to people’s requests that road corridors be reclaimed so that people may travel more readily.
As a responsible government, we responded to the people’s cries.
“We gave them plenty of warning, yet many of them were nevertheless overjoyed that Mpape had been evacuated.
“People can now breathe fresh air because of the widened road,” claimed one Mpape resident who has lived there for more than 20 years.
According to FCTA Secretary Command and Control Center Peter Olumuji, many of the shanties and illegal structures being dismantled are populated by criminal groups.
Olumuji, because Mpape has so many shanties, reports reveal that criminal activity has escalated over time.
He elaborated “This part of Mpape has the highest concentration of criminal elements and the highest intensity of criminal activity, as reported by residents.
“What the FCTA is doing here today is making sure the city’s security responsibilities are met.”
