The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has ordered the immediate demolition of houses obstructing waterways in Maitama and other flood-prone areas of Abuja.
Wike issued the directive on Tuesday after inspecting areas affected by flooding in Maitama, ordering the demolition to begin immediately and continue until Saturday.
The minister said the exercise would proceed regardless of the political activities or social status of owners of properties found to be blocking designated water channels. “We will demolish all those houses found on the water channel. Some of them are senators. Some of them are big men.”
Wike said the FCT Administration would no longer tolerate the construction of buildings on designated waterways, stressing that development regulations would be enforced irrespective of the status of property owners.
“Whether there’s election or there’s no election, all those houses will go down. Heaven will not fall. Rather, heaven will be at peace that the right thing has been done.”
The minister said recent flooding in Abuja had exposed several human activities contributing to the worsening situation, including construction on waterways, blocked drainage channels, indiscriminate refuse disposal and inadequate supervision of developments.
He said an inspection of affected areas showed that some property owners had blocked channels designated for stormwater in the FCT masterplan. “Unfortunately, we have gone there, and we have seen how people have blocked channels where, in the masterplan, that is the right way where the water is supposed to be channelled.”
According to him, many of the affected properties belonged to wealthy Nigerians and had existed for years without enforcement of planning regulations. “All those built-up areas that were not supposed to be built up, not a single poor person will live there. Those houses are houses built by well-to-do Nigerians.”
The minister added: “Those houses are not houses that were built last week. Those houses have been there 10 years ago, eight years ago.”
Wike said previous administrations might not have had the political will to enforce development regulations, while some officials may also have failed to perform their responsibilities.
He insisted that the current administration had the political will to tackle the problem.
“And let nobody make the mistake that this government lacks the political will to do anything. The person must be making a very big mistake.”
“If there is one minister that has that political will, I have. I have the political will.”
The directive comes as flash floods affected parts of Abuja following torrential rainfall, with Wike acknowledging that climate change and natural factors were partly responsible for the intensity of recent rains.
However, he stressed that human activities had also contributed significantly to the flooding.
“We are in a climate change period. The kind of rains we have experienced, or we are experiencing now, we have not experienced before. But that is not that there are no man-made factors. There are.”
Wike also directed relevant FCT authorities to commence immediate desilting of identified drainage systems as part of measures to address the flooding.
The minister rejected attempts to politicise the flooding and dismissed criticism from political commentators over the administration’s response.
His comments followed concerns raised by Senator Ireti Kingibe, who said she had previously warned about the risk of flooding in Abuja but that her concerns were ignored.
Wike, however, said he would not allow political arguments to distract the FCT Administration from its responsibilities.
“I don’t want to reply to political commentators. I don’t want to reply to people who think that appearing on TV, in their houses, will give them an edge to win an election that they have lost. No,” he said.
Defending his administration’s record, Wike said the FCT had recorded significant development over the past three years, while acknowledging that several challenges remained.
“Nobody can diminish what this administration has done in the past three years. Nobody can diminish it.“This administration has done very well as far as the Federal Capital Territory is concerned. That does not mean that I can claim that it has solved all problems, no. Are there problems? Yes. Have they solved major problems? Yes. Will they continue to solve problems? Yes.”
Wike also defended the administration’s record on the issuance of Certificates of Occupancy, saying 26,272 C-of-Os had been signed in the past three years.
He contrasted the figure with about 7,000 C-of-Os signed by two previous administrations over 13 years.
The minister urged residents, traders and members of the public to stop dumping refuse into drainage channels, while maintaining that the FCT Administration would remain focused on addressing the capital’s infrastructure and environmental challenges.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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