The Kwara state government on Tuesday demolished illegal structures at Unity Road, Ilorin, the state capital.
The exercise, the government said, was to ensure that government offices and schools were devoid of commercial ventures in front of them to guarantee the safety of lives and property in the face of insecurity in the nation.
During the exercise, the Executive Chairman, Kwara State Geographic Information Service, Abdulkareem Babatunde Sulyman, explained that the affected structures were on the road setback of the State Fire Service Office and the Amusement Park.
Represented by the Director, Physical Planning Authority and Development Control, Sunday Idowu, the chairman disclosed that the exercise was a federal directive to all the 36 states of the federation.
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He said the exercise was long overdue but was stalled till now due to the magnanimity of the government.
He maintained that several removal notices had been served on the shop owners in accordance with the seven days’ notice.
Sulyman, therefore, appealed to the public to desist from building on the road setbacks because it is unreliable for livelihood, adding that the exercise would continue in other places.
The Head of the patrol unit of the Agency, Abdulkareem Moshood, stated that all the demolished structures were illegal and affected traffic flow in the area.
On her part, the treasurer of shop owners at Unity Road, Mrs. Moshood Tunrayo Onipede, appealed to the state government to consider resettlement and compensation, as virtually all their lives depend on the place.
She said that the place had created employment opportunities for many youths who were hitherto roaming the streets without jobs.
Mr. Sheriff Ajenifuja, another shop owner, also pleaded with the state government to improve on the sensitisation programmes on the need for people to refrain from building on setbacks.
He added that the demolition exercise would have been averted if the government had mobilised personnel to the site a week before to allow shop owners to remove their property.
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