By; MKPUMA ENYINNA, Abakaliki
In order to make Ebonyi State one of the cleanest state in Nigeria inline with its master plan, the state government has demolished over 30 Illegal Structures in Abakaliki, the capital.
Addressing Journalists during the demolition exercise at Central Park axis, Ochudo Centenary City, the Commissioner for Capital City Development, Chief Sunday Inyima said that the owners of the illegal structures were properly notified before the action was taken.
The commissioner explained further that the demolished structures were built on a place designated as service lane and built without any approval from the ministry, hence the need to remove them.
Inyima said, “this place you’re seeing is a service lane and people started building shops here and we feel it’s not normal. Opposite here, you can see the international market where people can do their business, so this is not acceptable to government and that’s why government frowns at and that, why we have come to ensure that all these structures are removed.
“From our records, the owners did not secure any approval from the Ministry of Capital City.
“In August 2023, we issued them ‘stop work and removal’ notice but as you can see, they couldn’t remove it and that is why we are here to help remove it, bearing the cost of the removal.
“Well in the interim, we want to sanitize the city. The capital City ministry of course, is bearing the cost of the removal, but we further go into it and know who pays the final cost,” he said.
On wether the owners of the property are known to government, here’s what the Commissioner said.
“The owners are known and some of them are not known. I don’t know all the owners, but some people called when we wrote this thing and we actually told them that this is not proper that they should remove it, but to our greatest shock and chagrin, the structures are still here that’s why we’re here today, after a warning and notice we gave in August 2023.”
He however, called on intending developers to ensure they get approval from the ministry before erecting structures to avoid being demolished.
Similarly, containers were removed at water works axis of Abakaliki metropolis after repeated notice and warnings to that effect from government to the owners fell on deaf ears.
