METRO Insecurity: Taskforce removes squatters’ settlement along flood plains in Wuse

By Stanley Onyekwere

In continuation with its renewed clean up exercise, the FCT Administration’s ministerial taskteam raided and removed hundreds of squatters from Illegal settlements allegedly harbouring suspected criminal elements within the fringes of a green area in Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.

It was observed that the enforcement team accompanied by joint security personnel drawn from Military and Paramilitary agencies, Wednesday raided and cleared the the settlement area having makeshift structures, constructed with sacks and woods belonged to illegal squatters, who in their hundreds traded and lived there for about three decades.

Also, it was gathered that the settlement situated along flood plain, behind Fraser suites and Church Gate in Central Business District (CDB) hitherto served residential and commercial purposes to the displaced inhabitants mainly farmers and scavengers.

According to the displaced persons, their farms mainly banana and plantain plantations as well as other cash crops are around the flood plains stretching up to Presidential Villa and Karon-Majiji area.

One of the squatters, Sani Halilu, who claimed that it was the first time he experienced such demolition, said it touched his life to the extent that he was lost of words to express what happened to their settlement.

He added that most of them are farmers have been there

Experts identify girl-child mentorship as key to nation building

By Stanley Onyekwere

Someexperts in health and civil society advocacy have identified strategic early Girl-child Mentorship and social inclusion as key to nation building.

According to them, it was based on the fact that a well groomed girl-child, will grow into a responsible and resourceful woman that nurtures the society in several ways.

Making this point, President, Helpline Foundation For the Needy, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, noted that all stakeholders need to promote ideals that espouse gender equality and social inclusion for the girl-child, bearing in mind the fact that the hope for healthy generations depends on the up bringing of the girl-child.

Ahmadu spoke through the Project Manager of the Foundation, Arome Onoja at a one-day workshop on “ Gender Equality and Social Inclusion for FCT Original Inhabitants Girlchild Mentorship and Capacity Building “, held Tuesday, in Abuja.

She disclosed that the workshop supported by Macarthur Foundation and CHRICED, was meant to provide more insight to the challenges of girl-child, especially among the original inhabitants of Abuja, and also addressing them.

She said, “ Today we are here for another dimension of the project with an objective to mentor the girl child on Gender equality and social inclusion and building their capacity to be able to stand strong and compete in inclusive economy where talents can meet with opportunities.

“This programme will in no doubt prepare them for a future we all anticipate for them to become virtuous women.

“Remember when you train a girl-child you have trained a generation”.

more than 30 years, and for some of them who are students, they farm and also engage in trading activities to help fend for themselves and families .

“For me, I have been hearing about demolitions of our settlements in the past, but this is the first time I experienced it, and it touched my life to the extent that I’m lost of words to express what happened.

“Normally, we settle in a place, whenever development meets us, we remove to elsewhere, but this is the place we have been for a long time. We are just settling here, as we were not offered this place by the government, but we are just living and hustling here for more than 30 years.

“Even during the of El-rufai era as FCT Minister, we were here. We built our houses and shops, which were demolished. The issue is that our farms mainly banana and plantain plantations as well as other cash crops around this river (flood plains) stretching up to Presidential Villa and Karon-Majiji area.

“Almost 90 per cent of us here are Katsina State indigenes. So we are Nigerians, who have their children and wives here, and I’m appealing to the government to consider us by giving us time and another 0lace where we can settle in peace”, he stressed.

While explaining the exercise, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Comrade Ikharo Attah, said it was unacceptable to have such notorious settlement along the river belt in the heart of the city, as numerous criminal acts have been traced to the shanties.

Attah revealed that there have been complaints about bags and phones snatching including the issue of drug dealings along the corridor stretching up to the Central Mosque Area through the Federal Secretariat area.

He said: “We have been here before, this is notorious settlement along the river belt. To our shock, it is far wider than what we we expected as we spent the whole day here.

“So we had cleared it before, but today we wanted to do some thing very comprehensive. We had to remove everything ( all of the illegal shanties) we hope that the crime rate (the rate at which criminals come from the under bridges and attack people- stealing from them will be reduced across the FCT”.

Similarly, Kosi Izundu, a reproductive health/family Planning programme officer, who represented Pathfinder International Nigeria, explained that part of the mentorship program the girl-child need was a proper understanding of her reproductive states and the issues surrounding it.

Izundu noted that giving the girls right information at every phase of their lives and development was important to raising future adults that would make reasonable impact in the society.

She stressed that it was important for the girls to be given the right information so that , They can grow into very healthy adolescents and adults and they are able to filfil their potentials in the society”.