By Bisola Adeyemo
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has terminated the practice of farming, indiscriminate dumping of waste, heaping of refuse and trading along road corridors along the Airport road, in the Federal Capital Territory.
The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Community Relations, Hon. Ishaku Tanko Jamawo, revealed this on Monday during an advocacy visit to the Palace of the District Head of Lugbe- Garki chiefdom, accompanied by the delegation of Management staff of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, led by its Director, Engr. Braimah Osilama, addressed the assembled chiefs of various communities.
Speaking on the purpose of visitation, the SSA said, “We are here on the orders of the FCT Minister, to meet with the community leaders of the various communities along the airport road starting from the Military Cemetery in Karimajiji down to Sauka, at the Airport junction to discontinue the practice of farming, indiscriminate dumping and heaping of refuse along road corridors and trading on roadsides and Pedestrian bridges.
“Interacting with community leaders is a strategic step of the FCT Administration in getting the message down and across to the grassroots and also communicating the Government’s stance of zero tolerance for farming activities, trading, and dumping of refuse on road corridors along the Airport road,” he said.
Stating the outcome of the meeting, the S.S.A said, “at the end of the meeting, community leaders agreed to provide a suitable portion of land for the dumping of refuse in their various communities forthwith. “We have agreed to jointly inspect the sites that community leaders will provide and they have also committed to carrying the message down to their subjects for immediate compliance.”
Speaking also, Director, AEPB, Engr. Braimah Osilama, said “there are AEPB laws prohibiting farming, trading, and dumping of refuse on road corridors in the FCT. The community leaders are aware of this, and this advocacy visit provides another opportunity to interact with them, reemphasizing the need to discontinue these unwholesome practices.
” This is not the first time we are meeting, we have met a couple of times in the past, this is just a reminder to them. As a responsible and responsive government, we keep interacting with the people once in a while. We had a fruitful discussion with the community leaders.”
In his response, the District Head of Lugbe- Garki Chiefdom, Mallam Salihu .J. Gode, thanked the Honourable Minister for making the advocacy meeting possible and assured him of the compliance to the directive given by the Minister, saying it is timely, as farmers are just commencing planting. Unlike in the past when the crops would have been planted at the road corridors, and they have attracted economic value, before they were removed by AEPB, at some cost to the FCT Administration.
“The positive outcome of this particular meeting is the consensus that economic crops and trees along the road corridors are to be removed without compensation to the farmers since they constitute a security threat to residents in those communities and the commuting public,” he noted.