Arowoogun Abiola (www.afirika.com.ng)

The level of government’s lack of respect and empathy for its masses has been brought to the fore again with the Trademore Estate demolition saga.

It will be recalled that 2000 houses within the Abuja Estate are marked out for demolition to begin on Monday 3^rd July, 2023 following the recent incessant flooding and buildings collapse in the area.  According to reports, about 40,000 residents will lose their shelter at the end of demolition.

According to the Chairman, Adewale Adenaike, the estate was built in 2007 when Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMMAC) was in charge of land allocation, and the estate got the allocation papers and approval from AMMAC.  How then can the same estate in less than 20 years later declared illegal and marked out for demolition by the Federal Capital Development Authority?

Speaking to pressmen on the legality of the estate, Adenaike said, “When the FCTA took over all land allottees were requested to come for recertification, which the developer did at the time. No single allottee along the airport road has been decertified to date”.

“How then is the land illegal, going by this narrative of the FCTA, it means there’s no legal estate on the entire airport road in Abuja which is preposterous. 90% of all the houses in the estate are on mortgage, financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank and institution of the federal government”.

“Would the Federal Mortgage Bank or the federal govt of Nigeria have given loans to individuals to buy houses without verifying the authenticity of the land title? And you are saying the federal govt won’t have done their due diligence before loans are released?”.

Meanwhile, reacting to the saga, The President of Nigeria Institute of Surveyor, Ibitoye Olomolatan told journalists that the government should not have approved the location of the building since it is at the top of the water.  This according to him is because “The terrain of where houses are built is determinant to flooding. When you have low land close to water drainage or a channel, the water tends to settle in the nearby land after heavy rainfall, and any building within will suffer.

“That is why in our last AGM, surveyors gathered to proffer solutions and discovered that Nigeria needs to be proactive about solving flooding problems. The building should not be where we have low land or the altitude is at the same level as the drainage system; if they are almost at the same level, the risk of flooding is imminent. Only surveyors can determine a flood-prone environment, ” he stated.

If the estate approved by an organ of the government and even financed by mortgage bank in providing loans for the building is now declared illegal by the same government, it is undoubtedly an indication of the insensibility and insensitivity on the part of that government.  It is then evil to make the masses bear the brunt of such irresponsible executive goof.