Jonathan orders affordable housing for demolition victims in Abuja

[MrVan]

By Favour Nnabugwu

President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, to ensure that it provides affordable houses for owners of houses demolished or to be demolished, to alleviate their plights.

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, who relayed the President's directive when he hosted some residents of FCT after the Eid prayers, at his official residence in Life Camp, said the palliative measure as ordered by the President, would cushion the effect of the exercises on the victims.

He solicited the understanding of Abuja residents on the matter.

He said: "The demolition exercises carried out in the last three months were not a deliberate act to inflict harm and impoverish those affected but  to rescue the Abuja Master Plan and for security reasons among others.

"We are not demolishing houses because we want to cause pain to anybody. At times we take such a decision because of information at our disposal. We, as an administration, know the agony the affected people are going through.

"We are going to do something in tandem with the directive of President Jonathan to make sure we provide some solace on a long term basis by building houses in FCT that are affordable to those affected," he explained.

The minister explained that the impending demolition exercise was imperative to restore FCT to the path envisaged by its founding fathers as he pledged some succuor for affected residents to cushion the effects of the demolition.

Vanguard Nigeria

[MrVan]