By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday said that the threat by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to demolish illegal structures was a declaration of war against the poor.
The NLC said that the reason by the government that such illegal structures to be demolished were built in places not part of the master plan was not tenable, stressing that the master plan is only known to those behind the plan.
President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, who spoke at the congress national symposium in Abuja, said the plan should not go ahead unless there are alternative shelters for the affected poor, describing the plan as a violation of human rights.
Recall that, upon assumption of office, the former Rivers State governor and now the FCT Minister, vowed to demolish all illegal buildings and structures in the Federal capital as part of efforts to restore the Abuja masterplan.
He also threatened to revoke lands that were allocated, but not developed, as well as reclaiming uncompleted buildings that had become a haven for criminals.
Wike vowed not to spare anyone, irrespective of status, who had distorted the master plan, encroached on the green areas, and would also ban motorcycle and tricycle operators, open grazing, and roadside markets in the FCT.
But reacting to the threat at the symposium with the theme, “Nigerian Economy and the Crisis of Survival: Robbing the Poor to Pay the Rich,” Ajaero said that the FCT administration should legalise those structures.
He said, “The new attack by Wike to drive the poor out of Abuja, it’s a war where they tell you that you build in a place that is not part of the master plan, the master plan is only known to them.
“The NLC is saying that those structures are not illegal, those structures should be made legal unless there is an alternative to them.
“There is no area they map out, either quarter plot or half plot for the poor to build in Abuja, and when the poor manage to get small shelter, it’s been demolished daily. It is a war against the poor.
“The number of people that Adolf Hitler killed under a gas chamber will be a child play for people that will die because of shock over demolition,” Ajaero added.
