The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has issued a week-long notice to hundreds of squatters, mainly suspected hoodlums, taking refuge under bridges in Garki, Wuse II, Maitama, and Wuse Districts of Abuja to immediately leave or face the wrath of the law.

According to the FCTA, some of the affected places are supposed to be green spots, but they are virtually turned into places where people stay in slums and carry out nefarious activities in the city.

Making this point, Dr. Fred Kpakol, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Environmental and Waste Management to the FCT Minister, decried that the invaded under bridges have become an eyesore, where people are burning with firewood, which will affect their lifespan and eventually bring about the collapse of the bridges.

Kpakol spoke on Tuesday when he led officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) to sensitise the squatters to the looming health and security threats, as they are prone to diseases and death within such places and their environs.

He warned those staying under bridges in different parts of the city to leave, as it is going to carry out an operation storm under the bridges and clear every miscreant and person who is not supposed to be there at the expiration of the notice.

He said, “The full arm of the law will be invoked; that is why we have given them one week to be out of these places because we are going to be moving from place to place and making sure that things are put in the right place where they are supposed to be.

“You are aware of the prevailing kidnappings and other atrocities people commit from different places and run under the bridges, taking refuge under the slums there, which is unacceptable.

“The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is out to give the people renewed hope through the instrumentalities in the hands of the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is prepared to make the city clean, and for this city to be clean, slums like this have to be taken care of.

“Because the security of this city is very important as the face of Nigeria, and we cannot deface the country, we want to warn on a very strong note that any human being that comes here to stay must have to leave.

“If you have the capacity or potential to do something in the city, then you take up what is right for you to do and stay, not just to come and look at anywhere to stay and become a nuisance to society. It is totally unacceptable, and we have given them one week, within which we will come and evacuate them from these places,” he added.

On the decision to sensitise the squatters before dislodging them, the Minister’s Aide said, “This government has a human face; that is why we want to appeal to them by speaking to their conscience that there is no need to lose hope or feel that if they don’t have anything to do, then they stay under bridges. This is a suicidal mission, as there could be an outbreak of epidemics that could consume all of them.

Also, on the appeal for the government to provide an alternative place for the displaced persons to relocate to, Kpakol said the government cannot do everything, but there are agencies of government that they can reach out to for possible intervention.

Similarly, Deputy Director Monitoring and Enforcement, AEPB, Kaka Bello, reiterated that at the expiration of notice served, enforcement will be carried out with relevant agencies at some of the bridges on Ahmadu Bello Way, Ademola Adetokumbo Way, Wuse II, and Park Way, along the Wuse market area.

Bello added that some of the notorious spots are the bridge close to Transcorp Hilton on Ademola Adetokumbo Way, the Park Way close to Wuse Market, before the Kashim Ibrahim Bridge, the Ahmadu Bello Way close to Diamond Bank Junction, and also the bridge just before Area 11, where there are a lot of artisans.

“Though we have been able to remove them, the harm done to this infrastructure can be seen clearly. We are going to carry out the much-needed enforcement, so we are appealing to them to vacate all the bridges.

“They should take this as a final notice to evacuate their things because, in a few weeks, we will move in and start removing all those nuisances,” he stressed.

Some of the affected persons who spoke attributed their continued invasion of the bridges to economic hardship in the land.

They, however, made passionate appeals to the government to assist them in finding another place to relocate in order to continue their economic activities.

For one Iya Gizo, who identified herself as a widow and hails from Nasarawa State, although she was aware of the dangers of living under the bridge, there is no other available place for her to stay and do business to care for herself and her family.

Also, an artisan operating under the bridge near City Park in Wuse II, Emmanuel Abraham, decried that the looming clearance operation would not only dislodge him and others struggling to survive but make them more vulnerable to the prevailing security and economic threats in the city. (Nigerian Tribune)

Update news