About 350 structures were Thursday demolished in a densely populated Bassa-Jiwa village, situated near the Nnamdi Azikiwe Int’l Airport in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory.
Most of the demolished structures were residential buildings, shanties, batchers and kiosks sitting on the Right Of Way (ROW), under a train bridge and pedestrian crossing.
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Officials of the FCT Administration’s task team on city sanitation accompanied by a joint team of security personnel cleared the structures for allegedly defacing and posing a serious security threat in the area.
Director, Development Control Department, Murkhtar Galadima, said structures removed were part of the 500 uncontrolled developments marked for demolition in the area.
On whether adequate notice was given before the exercise, Galadima said: “Before marking the structures, we came for sensitisation and thereafter, we removed them.’’
Similarly, Ikharo Attah, the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, noted that the area had a multiple level of illegality, as underneath the main train bridge connecting the Nnamdi Azikiwe Int’l Airport has turned into shanty and constitute security threat.
Reacting to the development, Dauda Gimba, Chief of Bassa- Jiwa Village, said FCTA officials did not carried out much havoc in the community, adding that they worked together during the exercise.