The plan of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA)to demolish all illegal structures within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may yet be a tall dream, as many of these settlements which were pulled down by the development control, always spring up again. CHIKA OKEKE reports her findings about Durumi, one of such place
?
Durumi village is situated close to Living Faith Church, Durumi Abuja. It shares a common boundary with the prestigious Savannah Estate and Isah Mohammed Street. The village is divided into two phases: 1 and 2.?
? ? When LEADERSHIP visited one of the shops, young, fine lady lay asleep on a bench. She suddenly came awake as this reporter attempted to a buy a malt drink.?
? For seamstress, Blessing Ocheme, a native of Benue state in her 20s, despite being a believer in oppotunities, tha fact that she ended up in Durumi Village is “purely accidental”.?
?
How did she end up in such a place? ? ?
? ?“I came here to learn tailoring, but I live with my sister. We have been hearing that development control (the unit of the FCDA concerned with demolishiing ‘illegal’ dwellings within the FCT) would demolish ?it this year, but we do not know if it is true, but they have not served us any quit notice, yet.?
?“The Gbagyi people who own houses in this village know when they (development control) will be coming, but they are not disturbed, because they do not demolish houses built by the Gbagyis, only those of settlers.?
?
?“Sometime back when they carried out a demolition exercise in the village, they (the Gbagyis)asked for the owners of the houses they wanted demolished. If the showed up, they would demolish the buildings and give them money. If they refused, their houses will not be demolished.?
?“Last week, men of the PHCN ?were here and they disconnected us our lines. They said we had no money in our accounts, because we don’t pay our bills.”
?The crime rate and rent must be high here, then?
?
? “No, they don’t steal here. Thieves only visit that other side (at this point she gestured towards the estates and other well-kept buildings). For the house rent, what I heard is that 1 room is between N17,000 and N18,000 a year, but the chief has informed the villagers that anyone who comes around looking for house should be informed that development control will still demolish the area, unless such a person can wait until the exercise is past.”
? ?The chief also informed the natives not to collect people’s money when they are aware that the village will be demolished.?
?
?“Rather, he advised them to be patient, so that after the demolition, he confirm which areas were demolished and those that were not, so that the remaining ones will be rented out.?
?“The chief also said that the development control was angry with them, because some buildings that were earlier demolished were erected again. They promised to return to demolish them again.?
? ?“If you meet agents living close to the chief’s palace at Durumi 11, all they do is collect your money without even telling you that development control will still demolish the village.”
?
Everyday, Blessing prays for Durumi Village not to go under the caterpillars. It will only make the difficult situation more so.
? “I do not want them to demolish this village, because it is costly to pay for houses in the town.”
With a flourishing market where dog meat is sold, Durumi, comes alive at night and rearly goes to bed before 2 a.m. When Leadership Sunday toured the village, ?make-shift structures made from rusted zincs and curtains, which passed off as drinking joints, adjacent to the market ‘bubbled’ amidst unhealthy environments. When the winds swept past, some of these places stank to high heavens, no thanks to all sorts of wastes spewed from the bathrooms and kitchens of the over-lapping houses.?
?
At strategic points in the village, heaps of refuse which made it almost impossible for any visitor to muster the courage to enter, doted the area. It would be easy for the villagers to blame the limited farming space on the huge heaps of refuse.
Despite the nature of the village, business booms in the area, thanks to the huge population. Clothes, shoes, food stuffs ?and kitchen wares are sold at relatively cheap prices, while stylists, tailors and viewing centres also make good profit.
?
Just like blessing, mother of two, Mrs. Titilayo Olorundare is a petty trader in the village. She told LRADESHIP SUNDAY that though she was brought to the village by her friend, she had made profit from the petty trading, and that was how she had been taking care of her family.?
To her, life will be difficult if the men of the development control ?unit decide to “pay Durumi a visit”. “My husband is just a driver, but he cannot take care of the family alone. He needs my support to train our children and also take care of our immediate family. We would like to live in Asokoro if we had the opportunity, but we cannot afford the rent. That was is why we chose to settle in this village. I am just pleading with the FCDA not to only consider the Gbagyi people. They should also think about the settlers. There should be a place for settlers in the plan. We are all Nigerians. We can not afford to lose our houses now, because schools are about to resume.”
?
“I am not shy to say that I am a civil servant, because I live in this village. As a level 3 officer, you should know that I don’t earn much. True, this village is dirty, but what can I do? I have a wife and four children who are in school and apart from their upkeep, I also have elderly parents in the village who I am mandated to care for, because I am the first son of my family. If I eventually rent a house in the town, who will assist me shoulder my family responsibilities?No one, not even the government”, a civil servant, Mr. Moses David said.?
He however pleaded with the FCT administration to consider relocating the villagers to a conducive environment, instead of making relocation plans for the natives alone.?
?
It is a known fact that the cost of living in Abuja is very high, such that low income earners constantly struggle to make ends meet. Thus, they conclude that since the government is run by tax payers’ money, there should be changes in every facet of life of the people.
David was not done yet. “We cannot our entire lives in the village, and that was why we came to the city in search of greener pastures, only to discover that life is far cheaper in the village. My prayer is that our leaders lead us honestly.” ??
?
?
A native who preferred to be anonymous added, “We will not hesitate to tell the government that Abuja belongs to us, therefore, we should not be treated with disdain. Our farmlands have been taken over by development, yet we are not getting good treatment to justify the sacrifices we have made
in this town. It is very painful to state that no Gbagyi man or woman was given a ministerial position, yet we supported the government and did not embark on any demonstration of any sort, unlike some other tribes. ? ?
“Relocating us to a better settlement is good but the greatest challenge remains that most resettlement camps cannot accommodate our families. They are either too small or inconsiderately constructed.”
?
Talks With Development Control
?
At a meeting with some representatives of Durumi village, held at the office of the director, Department of Development Control of the Abuja Metropolitan Council, Yahaya Yusuf last year, the development control boss warned the residents not to “build beyond the space of 8, 000 sqm” designated for them by the government. He also said that the department would not condone illegal developments in the area and would not hesitate to “pull down illegal structures erected in the village”. Yahaya however promised the villagers that his department would meet with the Resettlement and Compensation Department of the FCTA to ascertain the areas and limit of encroachment by the indigenes.
?
?
Last week, at an interactive session with chiefs and village heads of Durumi at the development control headquarters, the deputy director, development permit, Alhaji Hamza Tayyub cautioned them to be “vigilante and monitor the residents in the community”. He noted that the department usually embarked on the removal of illegal structures, in conjunction with the police and NDLEA, as the raids had led to the arrest of hoodlums and dealers in hard drugs.?
In his reaction, the district officer of Durumi, Hope Thompson, said, “the removal of illegal structures is still ongoing. Several visits have revealed that plots of land in the community were occupied by settlers who acquired the land illegally from indigenes and such indigenes have no legal right to sell plots in the FCT”.
?
?
The chief of Durumi 1, Danjuma T. Angidubo, appealed to the government to allow them build and rent houses, pending the proposed relocation of residents of the area. “We no longer have farmlands and we use the money we make from rent to train our children”, he lamented.
In a swift reaction, deputy director, monitoring and enforcement, Mr. Tukur ?Bakori, said houses belonging to indigenes would not be affected by the planned demolition. He also noted that the department called for the interactive session, “because of the respect it has for the community”. He told ?Leadership Sunday that the greatest challenge was that some illegal structures initially demolished by the department were sprouting ?up again without the department’s approval. He warned that “henceforth, development control will surcharge any illegal developer whose building (s) were pulled down” by the department and noted that it was a criminal offence to rebuild such structures.
?
?
According to him, the department’s greatest challenge was that some illegal structures that were pulled down had been re-built without permission.?
“Whatever they do, the administration of FCT minister, Bala Mohammed is trying to come up with a policy; one that will empower us to demolish, arrest and prosecute. ??
“We can even surcharge the developer for removing the structures and when they eventually build it back, we arrest and prosecute the person, because that action is criminal.”
?
?
When Leadership Sunday visited the palace of the Etsu Durumi, labourers were seen laying interlocking stones inside the compound. They informed the reporter that they were unaware of the whereabouts of the ruler, as he “just stepped out of the house”.?
When this reporter checked again, she was informed by a teenage girl that the Etsu was “not at home”.
Efforts to rid the FCT of illegal structures might be compromised, since the Gbagyi settlements which formed most of the illegal structures will be spared. Many wonder why the houses still have to be demolished , when the natives will be spared, and thus, go ahead to multiply the number of buildigs in the guise of “indigeneship”? Both the Gbagyis and other settlers should be equally treated and relocated to conducive settlements.?