AMMC set to demolish illegal structures in Abuja

The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) has launched a demolition drive to remove illegal structures obstructing waterways in the Federal Capital city.

Leading the operation at Wumba District of Abuja,the AMMC Coordinator, Chief Felix Obuah, highlighted that the operation aims to restore Abuja to its original master plan and prevent flooding.

Obuah stated that the affected structures were built without necessary approvals, describing the construction as a flagrant violation of planning regulations. “We have mobilized equipment, materials, and machines on-site. These illegal buildings erected without approval will go down,” he warned.

He said; “I’m here again today to ensure that we’ve mobilized equipment and personnel to demolish the illegal structure in this area, which is obstructing the waterway.

“Just as I mentioned earlier, the entire structure will be demolished. We must sanitize this area and prevent such illegal activities from happening in Abuja.”

“This is necessary, because the Minister has good intentions and is doing his best, so for those of us on the ground, it’s our responsibility to take action to support him”

Obuah assured that the demolition drive is an ongoing exercise, with the AMMC committed to restoring Abuja’s original master plan.

“All areas that people have contravened will be brought down, and there’s no going back,” he said.

During the inspection tour, Director of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, explained that the structures were marked at different stages of development, but the owners refused to stop work despite being invited to do so.

“The only language Nigerians understand is the language of bringing it down,” he said, adding that the development control team would demolish the structures within 48 hours.

“We are looking at about over 10 structures some are roofed and some are not yet roofed.
But then as I said we have invited the constructor to stop work but they don’t want to do that so the only language they understand is to bring the structure down.
So the development control will come over here with their machine and in less than 48 hours everything here should go down”.

Galadima explained that objective is to clear waterways of obstacles, prevent flooding, and protect lives and property.

“We’ll restore this area to its original state. We’ll clean up the drainage system to prevent flooding, which could affect nearby buildings.

“Our goal is to clear the waterways of any obstacles, including buildings and structures.What matters most is preventing the spread of misinformation and false prophecies.Regardless of the cost, it’s crucial that we prevent these issues”.

The Director emphasized that allowing illegal structures to remain would cause suffering for many people and prioritized preventing misinformation and false prophecies.

On his part, TPL Chinemelu Echee, Director, FCT Parks and Recreation Department, expressed concern over the destruction of the natural ecosystem in the area. “This is a disaster waiting to happen because when we talk about global warming, we talk about the heating up of the entire system, this is part of it,” he said.

“These are the places that are supposed to calm and cool the environment and then contribute to the mitigation of global warming. But instead of people being concerned about it, they are just adding to the destruction of it and it’s very, very unfortunate that people do this kind of thing at this age.”

Echee described the area as a beautiful characteristic of green area, where people can relax and utilize the natural terrain.

“If you look around these facilities, you’d see that it’s surrounded by hills, rock, aqua, beautiful trees around the hills and it’s a beautiful characteristic of green area, where you utilize the natural terrain to develop, vocational facilities and where people relax.”