CITIZENS COMPASS —For the past two days, Oyo State Government has embarked  on demolition of buildings in Ibadan, the state capital.

The demolition, which began at Fashade community, on Tuesday, along Circular Road will affect about 12 villages in the Ona-Ara Local Government Area of the state.

Similarlly, about 4,000 residents, including petty traders, sand miners and other business owners around the River Niger area in the commercial city of Onitsha in Anambra State were displaced as the state government demolished many houses and shops.

Some affected victims said quit notices were not served before the buildings were demolished. 

Although, the state government, through the Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Emeka Orji, who supervised the demolition on Monday, justified its action by insisting that the demolition follows the state government’s resolve to rid the area of “illegal structures” and incessant building collapse in the area, the victims claimed that they had lived and done businesses in their property, which they claimed they legally acquired through the National Inland Waterways Authority, even long before the emergence of successive administrations in the state.

The demolition of no fewer than 2,000 shops and residential buildings was a fall out of the building collapse that occurred on Basden Street, Fegge, Onitsha, on Sunday, and a three-storey building, which had earlier collapsed at the Odu-Igbo area in Ochanja in the same Onitsha, three weeks ago.

The demolished shops and residential buildings located by the bank of River Niger were mostly owned by members of Sand Miners Association of Anambra State, who use them as equipment and operational offices, while some are occupied by petty traders who service them. Some people also own residential properties there.

The scene was more of a ghost town, as the whole area has been levelled, while some of the victims were seen trying to salvage the remainder of their various items.

It was further gathered that the structures were built by the affected victims, who allegedly got the approval of the National Inland Wateraays Authority (NIWA). 

But the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, during a visit to the area last week, had stated that NIWA does not have the right to build or allocate spaces to traders on Anambra land.

When contacted on the phone, however, the state Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Williams Akinfunmilayo, confirmed the ongoing demolition of structures built close to Circular Road.

—The PUNCH