The FCT Administration on Tuesday raised alarm that flyovers built in the various locations in the city centre are currently under threat by environmental degradation.
The administration lamented that such public property were being destroyed by few people who now cooked, sold food and trafficked harmful drugs under them.
The FCT Minister’s Task Force on City Sanitation uncovered the threat during an inspection of some of the flyovers.
During the exercise, five suspected criminals selling and taking illegal drugs under a flyover in Wuse were arrested.
The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the minister, Ikharo Attah, while speaking to journalists, decried the illegal use of the flyovers, especially by food vendors.
According to Attah, “We went round all the bridges in the city centre; we were shocked by what we saw at the bridges. We saw massive settlements, massive business communities, eroded soil, we saw the bridges heavily smoked due to the activities of food vendors, welding works going on, people are living under the bridges. We even arrested five guys with Indian hemp under one of the bridges.
“Those arrested would be investigated further. This is part of Abuja cleanup and we will sustain it.”
The Head, Monitoring and Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Kaka Bello, also lamented the huge environmental degradation ongoing under the flyovers within the city centre.
