Wike Orders Demolition of Flood-Blocking Houses in Maitama
ISSN: 2354-4481
By Nwafor Ogala Saviour
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has ordered the immediate demolition of houses and other structures obstructing designated water channels in Maitama and other flood-prone areas of Abuja.
Wike gave the directive on Tuesday after inspecting areas affected by recent flooding in the capital, saying the demolition would commence immediately and continue until Saturday.
The minister said the enforcement would not be suspended because of ongoing political activities or the status of property owners, insisting that all structures found to have been erected on designated waterways would be removed.
“We will demolish all those houses found on the water channel. Some of them are senators. Some of them are big men,” Wike said.
“Whether there’s election or there’s no election, all those houses will go down.”
According to him, inspections conducted by the FCT Administration showed that some property owners had blocked channels designated in the Abuja Master Plan for the movement of stormwater.
He said the recent flooding had exposed several human activities contributing to flooding in Abuja, including construction on waterways, blockage of drainage channels, indiscriminate dumping of refuse and inadequate maintenance of drainage infrastructure.
Wike said many of the affected properties belonged to wealthy Nigerians and had existed for several years.
“All those built-up areas that were not supposed to be built up, not a single poor person will live there. Those houses are houses built by well-to-do Nigerians,” he said.
The minister said some developments had remained in place for years because previous administrations may not have had the political will to enforce planning regulations.
He, however, insisted that the current FCT Administration had the political will to correct the situation.
Wike also directed relevant FCT authorities to immediately commence the desilting of identified drainage systems, saying blocked and poorly maintained channels had worsened the impact of heavy rainfall.
He appealed to residents, traders and other members of the public to stop disposing of refuse in drainage channels.
The minister acknowledged that climate change and unusually heavy rainfall had contributed to the recent flooding but maintained that human activities had significantly worsened the situation.
“Flood could be a natural disaster,” he said, citing flooding incidents in cities including Dubai, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We are in a climate change period. The kind of rains we have experienced, or we are experiencing now, we have not experienced before. But that is not that there are no man-made factors. There are.”
Wike identified construction on waterways, development in areas not approved for construction, failure to desilt drainage systems and indiscriminate waste disposal as major contributors to flooding in the FCT.
He also criticised the conversion of designated green areas for other purposes, saying the administration would continue to protect Abuja’s environmental assets and enforce planning regulations regardless of how long illegal structures had existed.
The minister dismissed political criticism of the administration's handling of the flooding, saying enforcement would not be influenced by the election season.
He said the government would focus on addressing problems in the FCT rather than engaging in political arguments.
Wike further defended the administration's record, stating that 26,272 Certificates of Occupancy had been signed within the past three years, compared with about 7,000 issued by two previous administrations over 13 years.
He urged residents to continue drawing the government's attention to problems in their communities, promising that the administration would take action where necessary.
The minister directed the FCT Development Control Department to ensure there was no delay in the demolition of structures found to be obstructing water channels.
He said the enforcement exercise would continue until the government restored designated waterways and reduced the risks posed by flooding in affected parts of the capital.
