Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has proposed a new framework that will help in addressing factors distorting the restoration of the Abuja master plan.
This was made known by some senior officials of FCTA who spoke at the commemoration of 2023 World Earth Day with the theme, “Invest in our planet,” on the development and sanity of the nation’s capital.
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The coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu who decried the unending distortion and destruction of the Abuja master plan by the residents, called on the residents to stop activities that lead to environmental degradation.
“Illegal felling of trees, building on water channels and road corridors have distorted and destroyed the plan for the development of Abuja,” he said.
The senior special assistant on the environment and waste management to the minister of FCT, Tunde Imolehin said the second World Earth Day celebration in FCT was to guide residents on how to dispose of their waste properly in line with this year’s global theme: “Invest in our planet”.
“To make our stay on this planet meaningful, we must invest wisely. We must take proper care of the environment, conserve and preserve the limited resources.
“The World Earth Day began in 1970 in the United States to highlight the importance of our planet and the conservation of its ecosystems on all continents and oceans. Since then, the world’s attention has been drawn to the challenges facing mankind and the environment and ways to manage them,” he said.
Also, the director of the FCT Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima disclosed that over 10,000 illegal structures have been demolished in the last eight years with three hundred hectares of land recovered as part of the administration’s commitment to restore sanity in the territory.
The move, Galadima said, was pertinent to reverse the norms that have been affecting the officials from restoring the master plan and sanity across the city.
He called for the review of the development plan of the city, which according to him, a consultant should be engaged to drive the reforms.
The senior special assistant to the minister of FCT on monitoring, inspection, and enforcement, Ikharo Attah, suggested that the Directorate of Road Traffic Services popularly known as VIO, and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) should be carried along as critical stakeholders.
“There are many rickety vehicles, motorcycles emitting smoke that are destroying the ozone layer. Every one of us must be involved in tree planting and must not be deterred to protect and secure the plants,” he added.
He, however, urged residents not to build on concrete jungles by destroying the green areas. “The planet is getting very hot; we must start to change the narrative so that our children will not pay for the destruction we are doing to the earth,” he said.