By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday stormed Gishiri village within Katampe District to uproot hundreds of illegal developments and extensions in a continuation to reclaim encroached plots for the legal owners to take possession.
The exercise which was carried out by officials of the Development Control Department of the FCTA, accompanied by joint security personnel arrived the area with two bulldozers, and pulled down the illegal structures erected on allottees plots and right of ways, for residential and commercial, including educational and religious purposes.
Some of those affected lamented that they just finished paying their rent barely one week ago, while others said their landlords were pestering them to pay their rent before their residences were pulled down.
However, since FCDA has being encouraging landowners to take possession of their plots , it was noticed that some allottees of the legally allocated plots have started erecting perimeter fences round their respective plots.
Speaking to Journalists, the District Monitor of Katampe and Mabushi Districts of the FCT, Town Planner, Samson Atureta said that the exercise has been ongoing as the extensions are actually on people’s legally allocated plots in the area.
Atureta said, “There are so many illegal developments and the village extensions, that’s why we had to clear them because these extensions are actually on people’s legally allocated plots.”
“So, what we are doing here is to ensure that all those developments that are village extensions are removed, even as we are trying to be careful not to tamper with the houses where indigenes are living in.”
“Government might take time, because of procedures, eventually they will get there. So, today is one of those days that they are here. We can’t help it as these extensions have to go, to allow the legal owners to take possession of ideally allocated plots.”
He explained that the people were duly notified before the exercise.
Yes, as the District Monitor, I have gotten approval to remove Gishiri more than a year ago, but we were just waiting for the logistics. And we finally got greenlight that we are going to do it, I met the Director, Development Control that he should permit me to give them another notice. So we just gave final notice, a week before we really started the removal exercise, he said.
Speaking on the number of structures removed so far, he said: “They are in hundreds, as we can’t really give the actual number now, even though our site officials are working on it so that we will be able to give proper numbering of houses we have removed. We are counting as we remove them, but I dare say that we have removed hundreds, if not a thousand.
“We started about a month or two ago, but because we didn’t have logistics including the security backing, so we have to really arrange for them to come. This is the fourth time we are coming here for the exercise.”
An affected person, Mama Blessing, who runs a drinking joint and resides in the area, lamented, “Even though that we know that they will come and do something like this, at least they would have given us enough time to leave and relocate to another place.”
“The suffering is too much, I am still looking for a place to relocate, but my appeal to the government is that they should help us relocate to another area.
We are not rejecting the demolition exercise as we knew that it is government land. But please let them give some more time, because to suddenly quit is not easy especially when we don’t have another place to go to, they pleaded.
