From Magnus Eze, Enugu
•Some aggrieved owners of demolished structures
Atmosphere of sorrow pervaded some homes in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, last week as the State Government rolled out some bulldozers and demolished over 30 shops considered as illegal structures.
Places affected were makeshift structures along Muritala Mohammed Hausa Quarters, Leach Road and Water Works Road in the metropolis that housed pharmaceutical, electronics, tailoring, foodstuffs shops among others.
Owners of the business outfits there wailed uncontrollably as some of them tried to salvage what was left of their goods and properties when government earthmovers carried out the development control.
They lamented that their means of livelihood have been destroyed by the government.
A joint team of security agencies consisting of the Police, Department of State Service (DSS) and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was deployed for the enforcement.
Commissioner for Capital City and Urban Development, Sunday Inyima said the structures defaced the city.
Inyima noted that several notices were given to the property owners starting from the past administration of Governor David Umahi till the present administration in the state before demolition.
He regretted that the owners of the properties paid deaf ears to the several warning of the government which was constantly done on radio and other media outlets in the state: “Notice was actually given by successive administrations before the administration of Rt. Hon. Ogbonna Nwifuru and when we came onboard, around November last year, we gave a fresh notice and removal order to all the people that are owners of these shanties and makeshift buildings. In December last year, we repeated the notice.
“Abakaliki has grown into a metropolis like other cities you can think about and we cannot continue to condone this.
“As you can see, this flyover here is from Government House and the road here takes you to the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, what if the state has a high-profile personality that visits the state and wants to go to the State House of Assembly, will it be good for us to be showcasing shanties or makeshift structures? No, that is why we have insisted that they must remove it and we have come to help them to do so.
“We will continue with this, from here, we are moving to Water Works Road, Leach Road, anywhere we see illegal structures within the urban city. Let us first of all sanitize the urban and then we will begin to go into other areas of building control.
“On the space created, we have to give a proper set back of road and the drainage and when we do that, the owner of these properties can as well design a beautiful edifice that can actually take the place, so that if you are driving through this road, there will be that aesthetic, the ambiance that you are truly in a capital city.”