Five months gone after the set up of the ministerial task force on the decongestion of the Abuja-Nyanya-Jikwoyi-karshi road was inaugurated, Federal Capital Territory Administration has finally commenced the long-expected removal of all illegal structures along the route to pave way free flow of traffic in the area.
The Abuja-Nyanya-Jikwoyi-Karshi decongestion taskforce Thursday moved into its next phase of the clean-up, which is to remove all illegal structures earlier marked for removal, for constituting encroachment on the road corridor, leading to serious gridlocks experienced on the axis before .
Chairman of the taskforce, Major General Emmanuel T. Nienge (rtd) said during the clean-up operation explained that the aim of the exercise was to “achieve seamless human and vehicular movement along the road as well as ensure safety of lives and property, which could be lost due to any accident on the road.”
Gen. Nienge, while appreciating cooperation of all stakeholders in the task, however warned that the long period of grace was over, affirming that “now is the time for action, to remove all those structures causing holdup and making life difficult for commuters on this route.”
Nienge said: “we are here today to remove all the illegal structures, especially those extensions that reach to the road.
“We have given the traders enough time. Most of them have complied and removed the structures, as you can see, but you can also see that some have not done that, so we will help them to remove them. We will not touch any legal structure.
“And while we still urge them to quickly remove them by themselves so that they don’t get destroyed in the cause of our bulldozers doing it for them; we still reserve a very short window for those who assure us they will carry out self-removal. He continued “but it is obvious that the few who are yet to remove them are seemingly unwilling to do so and we will help them remove the structures.
The retired general who also disclosed that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has given the taskforce “additional three months”, added that his team would sustain patrol of the area after demolishing the illegal structures so that such structures do not spring up again.
Meanwhile, many residents who trooped out to witness the exercise commended the FCT Administration and the FCT Minister for the clean-up and completion of projects in the City Centre and urged them to do more.
One of the residents, Mr. Ayoola Amao, who spoke with us described the removal exercise as a “welcome development”, saying that the exercise was good for the residents in that area.
Amao said: “I appreciate the FCT Administration under Muhammad Bello for the good work his taskforce is doing here in our area, and I also commend him for completing some abandoned projects. He has opened the road by the National Stadium road, another –the extension towards Aso Drive will soon be opened too, and many others.
It may be recalled that the FCT Minister inaugurated the Task Force on Traffic Decongestion and Environmental Sanitation along the Nyanya-Karshi road axis on the 25th of April 2017. Following the expiration of its 6 months mandate, the Minister extended its time frame following commendations for a job well done.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.