In order to tackle the perennial flooding at Lokogoma, the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) has said that demolition of structures on flood plains in the area was inescapable.
The Director, Department of Engineering Services, FCDA, Ahmed Shehu Hadi, gave this hint while addressing a press conference after a tour of the affected area in Lokogoma District, Abuja.
A team from the FCDA visited the area following a recent flooding that claimed the life of a 17-year-old boy.
Hadi said: “What we noticed on ground, majorly was that properties were being developed on waterways, which has constricted two major rivers of Wamba and Kabusa. We got Development Control Department to mark these illegal structures and to engage the residents to accept whether we have to allow these properties,” he said.
“Most of these properties are without approvals. Most of them are illegal. So it is not even the issue of having to go for compensation, unless if they can present evidence of approval…”
Chairman of Lokogoma residents association Dr. Joseph Nnorom pointed out that the issue of compensation should be put on the front burner.
Nnorom appealed to government to save the residents from the situation the developer has put them into, even as he wondered where the enforcement authorities were when the buildings were being put up.
He said they were not squatters, and did not allocate land to themselves and built without supervision.
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