The federal government will continue demolishing illegal structures in Mpape, says the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

The chairman of FCTA Ministerial Task Force on City Sanitation, Ikharo Attah, stated this shortly after a cleanup exercise in the area.

Mr Attah said that the demolition became necessary following the return of shanties barely one week after the initial demolition.

He added that the demolition, originally planned for three weeks, would be extended to discourage the re-emergence of illegal structures along the Mpape road corridor.

“Today, we are back to Mpape for what appears to be the most massive job since we came into the Mpape community. We have begged residents to vacate the roadside, where we are having enormous challenges because of the scrap market sitting on the roadbed,” said Mr Attah. “We had to torch the Panteka Market as well as the shanty market, which is clearly a violation of town planning and the Abuja master plan.”

The task force stated that it would not leave Mpape until the end of 2021 to ensure proper periodic cleanup of the area.

Mr Attah also stated that the FCT Minister Muhammad Bello had handed over Mpape to the task force to rid it of shanties.

According to him, if the minister is not satisfied at the end of the exercise, the task force will extend the operation.

The FCTA secretary at the Command and Control of the Security Department, Peter Olujimi, disclosed that the Panteka market had become a hideout for criminals.

Mr Olujimi added that the demolition of the market would check criminal activities.

On August 11, the FCTA rolled out its bulldozers, pulling down over 2,000 illegal structures in the area. Most of the affected structures were roadside shanties, containers, and others obstructing traffic flow.

The exercise came after over three months of official notices and warnings to the structures’ owners and occupants, said the task force.

(NAN)