The Wuse Zone 6 Neighbourhood Residents Association in Abuja on Thursday called on President Bola Tinubu and other stakeholders to help halt the ongoing clearing of green areas for new construction,
The Protesting residents march to the Department of Development Control on Thursday.
They noted that the development has become a grave health and environmental challenge.
The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Ayinde Soaga, said that the Abuja Master Plan deliberately preserved green areas to protect underground utility corridors and spaces for recreation.
He said residents were concerned because many of the reserved sites were now being fenced, cleared and built upon in defiance of planning regulations, putting the entire community in danger.
‘We urge the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), and the Development Control Authority to urgently intervene. ‘ The Abuja Master Plan must be enforced to protect both the environment and critical underground infrastructure.
‘Almost all the designated areas in Wuse Zone 6 have been sold and cleared for new construction, sparking fears of looming environmental and infrastructural disasters for residents.
‘The most disturbing of these sites include the Julius Berger Park by Berger Junction, behind the police barracks.
‘ This has already been built up as a housing estate by the Nigeria Police Force Cooperative Society.
‘Gilmore Gardens on Rabat Street is being prepared for the construction of a housing estate.
‘ The garden on Tunis-Bissau Junction, which is being converted into a club and other facilities with very strong structures, is noteworthy,’ he said.
Soaga explained that the areas now under development were not just ordinary open spaces, but lying on underground sewage and water pipelines.
He said the ongoing construction in Wuse Zone 6 could turn one of Abuja’s most planned neighbourhoods into a hotbed of flooding, pollution and infrastructure failure.
‘Already, residents of Wuse Zone 6 are facing the environmental menace of burst water pipes, blocked sewer lines and water and environmental contamination.
‘ There is hardly any street that is not having sewer line bleeding onto the streets, making them very smelly and unsightly.
‘The outbreak of gastrointestinal and other waterborne diseases of huge proportions is a disaster waiting to happen in the neighbourhood.
‘ These challenges have been associated with the built-up estate on former Julius Berger Park in the area,’ he said.
He also said the loss of green spaces would worsen flooding, increase heat and reduce air quality in the neighbourhood. Soaga, a retired broadcaster, said trees and open spaces that once absorbed rainwater and filtered air were being replaced with concrete and steel, leaving residents vulnerable.
The chairman said that with more buildings springing up in Zone 6 outside the scope of the original master plan of the city, roads, drainage systems and power supply were also expected to come under strain from overuse.
Also speaking, Mr Ernest Frank, one of the members of the association, said he had lived in Zone 6 since 1985, adding that basic infrastructure was already overstretched.
‘Zone 6 is overtly chocked and we are bleeding.
‘ This is a very quiet protest to halt the bleeding so that our sewer lines that are under this particular place, flowing all the way to Zone 7, are not blocked.
‘We are pleading with the FCT Minister, Nyesome Wike; we are also asking President Bola Tinubu to please intervene,’ he said.
The Youth Leader of Zone 6, Mr Emmanuel Adamu, said residents were gravely concerned with the conversion of green areas to estates.
‘All of a sudden, these lands are now being converted into a housing project.
‘The traffic situation is not too good and it is going to get worse with more houses.
‘ Again, where are the kids going to play?
‘We want the FCT minister to intervene because we know he’s a performing minister and he listens.
‘ We want our president, Bola Tinubu, to intervene and bring a halt to this development.
‘ Let the green areas remain green,’he said.
Another resident, Hamza Madaki-Tayyub, said members of the association were taken aback when trees were being felled in the area.
‘We were so disturbed and annoyed; we didn’t even know what to do.
‘ We began to make contacts, and then we had meetings several times. We were very concerned.
‘Some of us who are members of professional bodies reached out to them.
‘ The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has come out and made their position known,’ he said.
He urged NITP to rise up to the occasion to protect the environment and fight for the sanctity of the master plan.
Responding, the Head of Administration, Development Control, Oche Obe, promised to relay the complaints of the protesters to the Director of Department of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima.