Anxiety as FCT marks over 10,000 houses for demolition

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed

John Ohakim is a journalist and a lover of dogs. His passion for the animal, known as man’s best friend, has been described as second-to-none among his neighbours. Different species of dogs ranging from Australian Shepherd and Cattle, Bearded Collie to Belgian Sheepdog are housed at his courtyard, behind his two-bedroom apartment located at Ajegunle Street, Area 1 in Mpape, Abuja.

As soon as he returned from work on Tuesday, and on hearing the engine of his car running, the dogs barked with joy that their owner had returned. Ohakim too did not disappoint them as he headed for the backyard as soon as he was welcomed by Nkechi, his lovely and fair-complexioned wife.

On seeing him, the dogs wagged their tails. Their joy doubled when John brought out the polythene bag with which he had collected remnants of food from one of the fast food outlets in the city. This correspondent looked from the window as John, one after the other, opened the cage for his dogs to come out of for their dinner.

He particularly pampered one of the dogs, which he named ‘Lion’ because of its bravery. ‘Lion’, he says, has been immeasurably useful not only to him but other people in the neighbourhood as it has been trained to single-handedly ward off invaders into the area on many occasions.

But now, the fate of all the dogs, including his precious ‘Lion,’ is hanging in the balance. No thanks to the planned demolition of their owner’s house and about 10,287 other buildings by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration. While Ohakim thinks about where to raise fund to secure a new apartment “somewhere” in the suburbs, he does not know what will become of his dogs. Apart from this, he is also at a loss when the bulldozers will move into the area to demolish his cherished building.

Already, the FCT Administration has said there would be no going back on the planned demolition and it has already intensified sensitisation and consultation with village chiefs and residents of the marked structures. The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, made this disclosure on Monday, during the monthly FCT Operations briefing session in Gwarinpa I District, Abuja.

The minister urged the affected persons to show understanding as he stressed that while the FCT Administration would uphold the rule of law in consonance with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government, he added that it was gratifying that the court had justified the mandate of the FCT Administration for such action thus far. He was referring to the refusal of the court to stop the planned demolition. The minister appealed to the residents to cooperate with the government as he insists that demolitions are carried out in the interest of the people and that it is not intended to inflict hardship on the residents. He adds that the sustained health care as well as security of the collective populace is of paramount concern to his administration.

He further stated that apart from safeguarding the Abuja master plan, demolitions are usually carried out for sanitary and security reasons because threats in these areas have to be nipped in the bud. The minister revealed that apart from the over 500 shanties removed from the Gwagwalada Motor Mark, the FCT administration in the last one month has also removed about 398 illegal structures, sealed 10 properties violating the master plan-designated land uses and removed posters under overhead bridges and other locations in and around the city.

But while that is ongoing, the administration has received bashing from non-indigenous residents of the areas, saying such demolition would further worsen the accommodation problems facing the residents of the nation’s capital. The group of non-indigenes, numbering about two million people, asked the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to shelve its plan to throw them into the streets. The protesting residents displayed placards which read: “Now they have shoes, but we have none”, “I can also be President”, “I can also be Senator”, “I can also be a minister” and “We need to be protected”.

The leader of the group, Mr. Chiemeka Friday, stated that any government policy, no matter how well thought out, would be of no value if it was targeted at further impoverishing the people.

He regretted that when President Jonathan was seeking votes, he did not see the people living in Mpape area as those living in illegal settlement. He urged the President to intervene in the interest of the people he is leading. Another resident of the area, who simply identified herself as Madam Patience said Nigerians were watching closely to see those who would be allocated the plots after the demolition. She said there were rumours that the plots in the suburb had already been allocated to top government functionaries and politicians, just like the Maitama extension.

The expected demolition has attracted the attention of the civil society groups in the country. For example, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa, has called on the government to shelve the plan. Musa says the demolition, which he says will also affect 18 other villages in Abuja, will render more than two million people homeless.

According to him, “Our attention has been drawn to a notice about demolition by the administration of the Federal Capital Territory which has marked over 10000 houses in Mpape, one of the 19 villages of Bwari Area Council of the FCT. The residents with a population of over 2 million people feel that their human rights have been violated. They claim that the FCT map reveals clearly that the area was earmarked for the indigenes of the FCT for use as farmlands, but was later sold to the residents as residential area. Furthermore, considering the time of the year, the rainy season, many women and children will be left to suffer the harsh weather conditions. Some people that site their businesses in Mpape and its environs are also finding it difficult to cope with the harsh reality of this demolition.”

He added that the residents of the area also claimed to have expended hard earned resources to provide for roads, electricity, water, hospitals and other basic amenities to improve their livelihood. Musa alleges that the planned eviction has caused the death of seven people, yet the administration has not shown any remorse towards that.

Though he agrees that the residents may have been given prior notice by the FCDA, he however adds that owing to inherent poverty the nation has been plunged into with the recent fuel hike that doubled the prices of food and other commodities, most citizens now find it difficult to meet their responsibilities such as ability to afford two-year rent for another decent accommodation elsewhere.

“Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre is calling on the Federal Capital Territory Development Authorities to reconsider their actions towards Mpape residents and 18 other villages, even though they had been given prior notifications. This is to enable the residents to buy more time to sort themselves out before movement. This is based on humanitarian ground considering that women and children are involved in the displacement,” he says.

Despite this, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party says there is nothing wrong with the demolition. Speaking on behalf of the party, its Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja, says though he does not have details of the planned demolition, Nigerians cannot continue to live in shanties forever. He adds that it will be wrong to drag the name of the party into issues that ordinarily should be tackled administratively.

Jaja said, “We cannot continue to live in shanties in this country; we cannot continue to live in lawless ways because we want to protect the party. If people had gone to build in a place where they aren’t supposed to build, those places should be demolished, because it negates the principle of law that established those areas. Even if it is a new place that government wants to develop, you don’t have to blame the government; what you should do is to appeal to government to resettle them. Look at our airport road; most of you have travelled abroad; is it not a shame what you see and this is where you see the international people passing through when they come to the country. We are no more primitive people and for how long shall we continue to live in primitivism, because we want to win elections? No!”

For now, the fate of thousands of property owners in the area is unknown. The tenants in the area are also panicking, unsure of where to move to. The already overcrowded adjoining towns in Niger and Nassarawa states may however be waiting to accommodate those who may be displaced. But such a development will add to the already bloated population of the two states.