Trademore estate residents protest planned demolition by FCTA

Trademore Estate residents on Monday in Abuja took to the streets, protesting the planned demolition of buildings on the estate by the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA).

The demolition, Persecondnews gathered, is to address the persistent flooding in the estate located along the Lugbe-Airport axis of FCT.

The protesting residents said the FCTA should exploit other means of tackling the flood instead of the demolition option.

They queried what they called “lazy engineering approach” of demolishing building by the FCTA, saying previous exercise had yielded no results.

Persecondnews reported in 2021 how flood wreaked havoc in the estate which left four people dead, 166 houses and 26 vehicles submerged aftermath of a downpour.

Following the flooding in the estate, FCT Taskforce had in May 2022 marked about 100 houses for demolition but opted to demolish 30 houses but did not mitigate the flooding.

After the disastrous flooding of Friday, June 23, the FCTA taskforce planned to demolish over 1,000 houses in the estate

Mr Adewale Adelaide, who spoke on behalf of the residents said: “The occupants of the estate will resist the demolition of buildings in the area with all they have.

“Trademore is not a disaster zone but a disaster in leadership which as failed to address persistent flooding in the area.”

The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had in January 2023, warned the government to prepare ahead of the raining season, noting that with increase in climate change activities there will be more floods compared to what the country witnessed in 2022.

NIMET Director General, Prof. Mansur Matazu, said the 2022 floods which displaced 1.4 million people, killed over 603 people, and injured more than 2,400 people, had necessitated the early warnings to avert a repeat of the devastations witnessed in 2022.