The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) stated on Monday that it is unacceptable that the property designated for an abattoir in Kuje Area Councils has been turned into residential zones.
The administration announced this while urging everyone who built along the abattoir corridor to begin packing before the area was demolished.
Comrade Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, made this comment on behalf of the administration during the ongoing cleanup of Pasali, Kuje Area Council, Abuja.
He bemoaned the quantity of illicit activity that has been occurring in Kuje for the past two months.
According to him: We discovered more illegalities where the entire abattoir was converted into residential areas and pushing the abattoir to one corner. Kuje is a work in progress, there is no going back in keeping Kuje clean.
There is no going back in reclaiming the abattoir, there is nowhere you can kill meat in Kuje and this is unacceptable. The entire area has been sold out. Those who sold the area know they sold an abattoir, the people that built there know they built on an abattoir.
“We just discovered that the abattoir has been excessively built upon for now we haven’t been able to reach 20% of the entire illegalities in Kuje. We will be doing it when the rain subsides.
“The Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, had told the Area Council Chairmen to take charge of their council, some of them are complaining, the issues are too much on them we hope they can now take charge and remove all the illegalities. Like in this area abattoir, road corridor, market have been taken over and all these are unacceptable.
“All those who built houses on abattoir and rail corridors should start packing, we are coming. Those who built a government layout should park.
“This is still the ongoing Kuje cleanup, this is about 6 hectares that are earmarked for the vegetable market in Kuje.
“Some parts of it were sold to places of worship, filling stations, gas stations, houses, and others, so we are reclaiming it so that we can move everyone at the road corridor in Kuje to this place. This place has also been a very good place for criminals’ hideouts and we are clearing it so that we can move people from the market road corridor to this place”.
Speaking on compensation to owners of economic trees, he said, “The Council Chairman has agreed to pay compensation to all those who planted trees here because some of them need to be compensated. We have to pay them compensation”.
He lamented, “Despite all the work we have done in Kuje for over two months we haven’t reached 20% of the cleanup in Kuje, the cleanup is to take everyone on the road corridor “.