The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Monday began the clearing of shanties, illegal markets, mechanic sites and dirt along the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Way, otherwise known as Airport Road.
Director of the board, Dr. Hassan Abubakar, who led a combined team of security personnel and AEPB’s enforcement officers on the clean-up exercise, said it was done in compliance with the FCT minister’s directive to keep the nation’s gateway corridor neat and tidy.
He said the cleaning would be comprehensive and sustained as enforcement officers would be stationed in strategic areas to enforce compliance.
“This is Airport Road, so the cleaning must be 10 kilometers away from the major road. The road determines the image of the country as a whole, so this place has to look clean.
“We are not going to stop this exercise; all those causing nuisance here must be removed. It is going to be a daily operation – every day we must come here and spend at least 3 to 4 hours,” he said.
He disclosed that over 200 members of the enforcement squad have been deployed to the road to sustain the exercise.
The director called on relevant stakeholders to support AEPB’s struggle to ensure sanity along the road and the entire Abuja city.
