Demolition team of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, on Wednesday, stormed premises of the National Assembly complex where it pulled down over 100 illegal shanties and makeshift tents erected by squatters.
Heavy duty machines of the administration removed unauthorised structures used as shops, houses, drinking spots and business centres alleged to be contributing to defacing the premises.
The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, said the exercise is set to make the three arms zone safe and improve the aesthetics of the area.
He hinted that the FCTA will soon be coming in to the National Assembly to redesign the complex to suit the land use of the area.
“We came to remove batchers and shanties, illegal containers around the National Assembly area, the three arms zone and this is not good at all. With the opening of the road the FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Bello, discovered it and we had to remove them this morning.
“We discovered that people live here, sell here and we had to remove them in order to make National Assembly safe and to improve the aesthetics. The FCTA that built the National Assembly will be coming in here and will look at the official land use and redesign to suit the area.
“Because you can’t have all these sensitive offices and have all these people here, some of the houses people occupy here were used for construction sites in the 80s and it has been decommissioned a long time ago and everyone should go.”
He stressed that there is no going back on removal of all illegal shanties and batchers in Abuja.
The Director Development Control, Muktar Galadima, on his part said the administration was making arrangements to have a good design that would fit into existing environment.
He said, “We gave them time to pack their things, so we are here to remove the shanties. Looking at the composition of this area that is three arms zone, so the presence of these structures is not good image for the country and we want to come up with a good design that would fit into the existing environment.
“We are coming up with a modest design that would fit into this environment.”
Mrs Gift Akpan, a food vendor, agreed that the vendors knew from the beginning that the place was illegal and would be asked to leave any moment.
“We knew one day something like this would happen but we are just begging them to give us another place to do our businesses”, she said.