The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said scavengers have taken over the capital city’s economic trees and plantations.
Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, Mr Ikharo Attah, said the plantations were rented to the scavengers by the Abuja natives.
Speaking during a clean up exercise in Mabushi and Jahi areas of Abuja, on Wednesday, Mr Attah said that it was unacceptable for owners of undeveloped plots of land or buildings under construction to rent out their properties for illegal land use different from what was in the master plan.
He warned that henceforth, the FCT Administration would report the owner of the property to the police, if the criminality spiked.
He said, “We are removing scavengers’ shanties, around the Mabushi area, close to Orji Uzor Kalu’s House.
“The FCT Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, advised the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, on the need to actually clear this area in order to make this area more secured.
“Consequently, the minister directed us to clear all scavengers in this area, just by Orji Uzor Kalu’s house, we are clearing many shanties and scavengers’ dens.
“It is part of our agenda to clear the city and today we found someone’s national identity card and international passport, which was probably stolen.”
He said the area was a high brow one and it won’t be right for scavengers to stay there .
“We will be handing them over to appropriate agencies to locate the owners of the identity card and international passport.”
He said the cashew plantations have been converted to criminals hideouts in Abuja.
“The cashew trees are no longer economic trees again, they are insecurity trees, because whenever we go out, we see criminals hiding under the trees.
“They have become safe havens for criminals.
“We have already told the indigenous people that any cashew plantation that is rented out to scavengers, when we get there we won’t spare the cashews trees.
“This is because we must touch every illegal structure in the plantation and remove them.
“If anybody rents out his property to illegal occupants, we condemn it totally and if we get the owner, we will report the owner to the police,” he said.
