Flooding: Protest Mars FCDA’s Move To Demolish Houses In Trademore Estate
Residents of Trademore Estate in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Abuja, Monday, staged a peaceful protest against a move by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to demolish over 2,000 houses in the estate.
The planned demolition followed last week’s flood that swept across 100 houses in the estate.
During the planned exercise, which had a heavy presence of policemen and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the residents claimed that the proposed demolition was politically motivated.
The peaceful protesters, who walked through the Musa Yar’Adua Expressway to drive home their displeasure, said the estate was not a disaster zone.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions, the protesters said the solution to the flood issue is for the authorities to address the root cause of the flood, which usually emanates from Lokogoma and other surrounding estates into the passing river at Trademore, leading to flooding in the area.
Some of the placards read: “Provide engineering solutions not roadside approach”, “Trademore Estate is not a disaster zone”, “Take responsibility for the job you are paid to do”, “Federal Mortgage Bank can’t refinance illegality” and “Put an end to lazy thinking”.’
They lamented that they purchased houses in the Estate through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and should not be made victims of illegality by a government agency.
According to the residents, the estate was built in 2007 when, Abuja Municipal Area Council, (AMAC), was in charge of land allocation and that the estate got the necessary allocation papers and approval from AMAC accordingly.
