PHOTOS: Residents Rendered Homeless As FCTA Demolishes Structures In Utako

It an unpleasant Wednesday morning for residents of
Utako village in Abuja as officials from the Federal Capital
Territory Administration (FCTA) stormed the settlement with
bulldozers and armed officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil
Defence Corps.

The residents who knew what the business of the officials was,
were seen making last-minute moves to salvage their belongings on
the sounds and sights of the men and their machinery.

Children also seen sitting beside a few of their properties had
to watch over their belongings as their parents raced to retrieve
more items before they got destroyed by the claws of the
bulldozer.

Demolition Will Stop Land Racketeering

The demolition, according to the Director, FCTA Department of
Development Control, Muktar Galadima, will put an end to land
racketeering in the FCT.

Mr Galadima who spoke to journalists stressed that there was a
need to correct all infractions and abuses of the Abuja Master
Plan.

“The FCTA has already made it clear that the actions and
activities of land racketeers cannot and will never be
condoned.

“That is why we are removing all those illegal developments,” he
said.

He, however, reiterated the administration’s stand to rid
the nation’s capital of illegal structures, saying, the FCTA
would not condone land racketeering and grabbing.

Nowhere To Go

Most of the residents, who eke out their living in the nation’s
capital, were seen making calls in efforts to find an alternative
shelter after the Wednesday demolition.

The demolition affected shops and houses that were already
marked by the government agencies.

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