Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has ordered the demolition of houses built on designated water channels in Abuja, warning that structures blocking waterways will be removed.
Wike gave the order on Tuesday during a press briefing at his office after inspecting flood-hit areas of the FCT following heavy rainfall.
The minister said the inspection showed that some property owners had blocked channels meant for water flow under the Abuja Master Plan.
“And certainly, we have gone there, and we have seen how people have blocked channels where in the master plan, that is the right way where a channel is supposed to be. People, by their positions, have blocked it, believing that nothing will happen,” he said.
Wike said the flooding had exposed the dangers of blocking waterways and vowed to remove the affected buildings.
“Now you have done your own by blocking the water channel, and nothing has happened. Thank God the flood has come; it has drawn our attention to the place. Now, something will happen. I am going to bring those houses down. Any house that falls on the water channel will go down.”
He gave the FCT Development Control Department until Saturday to act.
“From today to Saturday, if Development Control likes, let them find any excuses. If they like, let them find excuses—too bad. They can’t. We will demolish all those houses found on the water channel,” he said.
Wike said the owners’ status would not stop the demolition, even if they were politicians.
“Some of them are Senators, some of them are big men. The next thing you’ll see is campaigns now: ‘Oh, why is he doing this during the election?’ That is the next campaign you will see now. Stop it! We have finished elections. Where is the election? There is no election. All those houses will go down,” he said.
“Heaven will not fall; rather, heaven will fall if that peace, that right thing, has not been done.”
The comments followed his inspection of flooded areas in Maitama, where he also visited a drainage area with a structure despite the plot being revoked in 2011.
Wike’s aide, Lere Olayinka, said, “The spot here is a Drainage Area. It was allocated, but REVOKED in 2011. Structure was built on it,”
The inspection came after heavy rainfall caused flooding in parts of Abuja on Saturday. Olayinka had also said the FCT Administration was reviewing the 1979 Abuja Master Plan and installing drainage covers that would be harder for scavengers to remove.
