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Sen. Bala Mohammed, the Minister of the FCT, says the Federal Government is coming up with a social housing scheme to ameliorate the hardship of those affected by the demolition in the territory.
Mohammed disclosed this on Sunday, after a Sallah homage by the Muslim community in the FCT to President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vice President Namadi Sambo led the delegation to the President which included Muslim clerics and faithful, Ministers, Presidential aides and some members of the National Assembly.
In an interview with State House correspondents, Mohammed said that government was not unaware of the hardship the demolition would cause, but that it was a necessary exercise to rid the capital city of undesirable elements. ?
“I will seize this opportunity to say that the demolition and other social services we are carrying out as an administration is not something that we like to do but it is something that we have to do with a lot of pains.
“But I assure them that under his Excellency President Jonathan, we are coming up with social housing that will accommodate the needs and aspirations of every Nigerian, especially those that are affected by the demolition.
“At the end of the day, we will carry out an exercise where they will be registered. We will be able to provide them with affordable housing and in a place where they will like.
“What we are doing is to secure the nation, to secure the Capital and to secure the residents and including us and we are highly pained,’’ he said.
In his message to the residents, the minister said they should always be their brothers’ keepers while assuring them of government commitment to their well-being.
Speaking in the same vein, Sen. Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT), said the legislators had not abandoned the affected victims of the demolition as claimed in some quarters.
He said the National Assembly had been constraint in waving into the matter because it was a subject of litigation before a competent court of law and it would be prejudicial to go into it.
Aduda said they had been discussing with the executive arm of government to ensure palliative measures for the victims and that the exercise was not carried out during the rainy season.
“It is not true that we have abandoned them. The issue is that we are discussing. We have discussed with the Minister, we have discussed with the President and we are coming up with palliatives.
“You see people need to understand that the matter is in court and as legislators, if matters are in court, we are restrained from going into such matters and that is why you find out that the various committees that we have did not go fully into it.
“So, what we are doing is that we are discussing as representatives of the people to go behind the scene to talk to the minister and the president to see where they can bring up palliatives and to see that if they must demolish, it must be minimal.
“The demolition should be time-framed. I have discussed this, that this is a rainy season, there is no way you want to say you will move people out immediately. We have to give some time if it must happen,’’ he said.
Aduda also underscored the need for Nigerians to embrace peace and unity for the country to record meaningful development.
He decried the situation where cities which used to be local and international tourists’ delight in the country had become shadows of themselves because of persistent crises, killings and destruction. (NAN)