Barr. Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has directed the immediate demolition of structures blocking designated water routes in Maitama and other flood-prone areas of Abuja. The Minister instructed that the exercise should commence immediately and continue till Saturday.
Wike who inspected some flood devastated areas in Maitama on Tuesday said that the demolition would continue irrespective of the ongoing political activities or the social position of owners of properties impacted.
“We shall be destroying all those houses, which are on the water channel. A few of them are Senators. “Some of them are big men,” Wike remarked. Whether there is an election or there is no election, all those houses are coming down. Heaven will not descend. Instead, heaven will be at ease that the right thing has been done.”
The minister stated that recent flooding had shown man-made problems that were exacerbating the crisis such as development on rivers, clogged drainage routes, indiscriminate garbage dumping and poor oversight by competent agencies. He claimed checks showed that some property owners had purposely blocked conduits on the Abuja Master Plan via which stormwater was meant to flow.
“We have gone there and we have seen how people have blocked channels where in the Master Plan that is the right way where the water is supposed to be channelled,” he said.
The impacted structures, Wike said, were not fresh projects but had stood for years, constructed mostly by rich Nigerians and not the poor.
“These houses were here 10 years ago, 8 years ago,” he added, adding that prior administrations might not have had the political will to enforce the rules.
“If there’s one minister who has got that political will, I’m that minister. “I have the political will,” he remarked.
Wike rebuffed efforts to politicise the disaster, arguing that flooding is not new to Abuja or any other global city, citing similar instances in Dubai, United States and the United Kingdom. He recognised a climate change dimension but claimed that the human factor was still significant.
“We are in a period of climate change. “We’ve never had rains like we’ve had. “But that doesn’t mean there are no human factors,” he remarked.
He urged the FCT authorities to immediately commence desilting of designated drainage systems and appealed to citizens and traders to desist from throwing garbage into channels. He also directed the FCT Development Control Department not to delay the execution of the demolitions.
“From today until Saturday, if the Development Control delays, let them find any excuse to run away. They cannot,” he cautioned.
Wike, while defending the bigger record of his administration, stated that 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy had been signed in the last three years as against about 7,000 by two prior administrations in over 13 years. He refuted claims that the demolition exercise was politically motivated and condemned the conversion of designated green areas to other purposes, promising to maintain the environmental assets of Abuja.
“My interest is we will continue to do the right thing in FCT, where no one will stop,” he stated.
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