The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished mechanic workshop illegally constructed on the land earmarked for livestock market at Kugbo community along AYA-Nyanya Expressway in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement to the Minister of FCT, Ikharo Attah, who led the demolition team on Saturday, said the affected mechanic workshops were served quit notice in the last three years with subsequent reminders about five months ago to leave the area.
Attah explained that the demolition exercise followed the complaints received from the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, that some mechanics have taken over the land that was designated for a livestock market.
He expressed disappointment that the situation had forced the ram sellers to move close to the main road which contradicts the sanity of the nation’s capital city.
Attah further stated that removing the structures was in line with the commitment of the present Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, to maintain sanity and restore the masterplan of the city.
“In our efforts to sanitise the city in the moment of Eid-al-Adna, we discovered that the Kugbo ram market is not where it ought to be, the stretch from the electric pole down to the other side has been occupied by the mechanics and some persons who deal on other items, which has forced the ram market out of its original place.
“Upon the complaints that we received from the secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat and the need for us to conform to the Abuja masterplan, we came here to clear the illegal mechanic shops.
“This is because we have given them warning for the last past three years and in the last five months ago. With this clean-up, the ram sellers can now have a good stretch that can be well planned by the Agric Secretariat, where to keep ram, goat and cows, and many others.
“The mechanics have their land but they refused to stay there rather they decided to come and stay where that is not meant for them, they have cornered what belongs to Abuja Ram Market by the FCTA. So, we have removed them from the entire stretch of land earmarked for the Ram Market,” Attah stated.
