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Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has ordered the demolition of houses built on designated water channels in Abuja, warning that structures obstructing waterways will be removed.
Wike gave the order on Tuesday during a press briefing at his office after inspecting areas affected by flooding in parts of the FCT following heavy rainfall.
The minister, in a video posted by Nigerian Affairs Journal, said his inspection showed that some property owners had blocked channels designated for water flow under the Abuja Master Plan.
“And certainly, we have gone there, and we have seen how people have blocked channels where in the master plan, that is the right way where a channel is supposed to be. People, by their positions, have blocked it, believing that nothing will happen,” he said.
Wike said the recent flooding had exposed the consequences of blocking waterways, adding that the affected structures would be demolished.
“I have told people this in life: that nothing happened yesterday does not mean that something will not happen today. That it did not happen today does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow,” he said.
“Now you have done your own by blocking the water channel, and nothing has happened. Thank God the flood has come; it has drawn our attention to the place. Now, something will happen. I am going to bring those houses down. Any house that falls on the water channel will go down.”
The minister gave the FCT Development Control Department until Saturday to act against structures found on waterways.
“From today to Saturday, if Development Control likes, let them find any excuses. If they like, let them find excuses—too bad. They can’t. We will demolish all those houses found on the water channel,” he said.
Wike said the demolition would not be affected by the status of the owners of the properties, including politicians.
“Some of them are Senators, some of them are big men. The next thing you’ll see is campaigns now: ‘Oh, why is he doing this during the election?’ That is the next campaign you will see now. Stop it! We have finished elections. Where is the election? There is no election. All those houses will go down,” he said.
“Heaven will not fall; rather, heaven will fall if that peace, that right thing, has not been done.”
The minister’s remarks followed his inspection of flooded areas in Maitama, Abuja, where he also visited a designated drainage area on which a structure had been erected despite the plot’s revocation in 2011.
Wike’s aide on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, had said the location was a drainage area that was allocated but later revoked.
“The spot here is a Drainage Area. It was allocated, but REVOKED in 2011. Structure was built on it,” Olayinka wrote in a post accompanying video footage of the inspection.
The inspection came amid concerns over flooding in parts of Abuja following heavy rainfall on Saturday. Olayinka had previously said the FCT Administration was reviewing the 1979 Abuja Master Plan to reflect current realities and had begun installing drainage covers designed to make them more difficult for scavengers to remove.
