THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished an Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs) camp in the Durumi area of Abuja.
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The camp is reported to be an arena for criminal activities and made up of shanties the government explained were causing security challenges.
During the demolition on Wednesday, December 21, the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Shehu Samad, revealed that the IDP camp is located on the site of a dual road carriage corridor with a rail modal.
He noted that some residents of the area are not genuine IDPs.
Samad said, “If most of them are not IDPs then this is a straight forward issue and definitely not allocated because these are slums we are talking about. Then where are they coming from, and how did they get this location?
“Beside, this is a planned road corridor and a transit way for inner southern transit way, that is suppose to convey dual transportation, dedicated bus line and rail median but these have been taken over by hoodlums and shanties. You can imagine the kind of criminalities going on here.
“From the outlook we have here, they are not into meaningful employment or serious activities. They constitute nuisance not only to the neighborhood but the entire city. We will continue to sustain this operation to rid the city of unruly behavior.”
He noted that those that were arrested with hard drugs and others dangerous items during the operation would be handed over to the Police for further investigation.
Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, who led the team, lamented the extreme criminality perpetrated in the area.
He said, “This is an operation that has long been a discussion in the security committee meetings since March till today. The extreme criminality in areas like Garki, Durumi and Gudu were all traced to this area.
“Some dangerous criminals claim to be IDPs but they are not.
“It is really very disturbing that the area has so badly degenerated that the road corridors have been built upon. We saw tent before now we thought belong to IDPs later we saw more shanties then we saw block structures that they said they bought from squatters. Some people are even claiming to be Sarki of the area.
“It is really worrisome and the Minister have directed that this area must be cleared as soon as possible,” Attah said.
Durumi IDP camp was established in 2014, after attacks on villages in the North-East by insurgents.
The camp accommodates nearly 2,000 people.
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