Utako residents express concern over planned resettlement

The last may not have been heard about the planned resettlement of some natives in seven communities within the city. Some of the affected residents said government needed to address salient issues before they were resettled as they might lose their jobs, houses and other valuables without being adequately compensated. The FCTA has planned resettling […]

The last may not have been heard about the planned resettlement of some natives in seven communities within the city. Some of the affected residents said government needed to address salient issues before they were resettled as they might lose their jobs, houses and other valuables without being adequately compensated.

The FCTA has planned resettling seven communities said to be sited in the Phases II and III of the development plan of the FCT. The resettlement is to allow for development and modern structures within the city centre.

The communities are Utako, Maje, Jabi Yakubu, Jabi Samuel, Mabushi, Zhilu and Kdadina villages. The natives in these communities are to be resettled in Shere-Galuwyi, an agrarian community about 16 kilometres from Maitama.

Residents of Utako Village in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed concern over the resettlement plan. 

While some of the natives said they were not aware of the resettlement plan, others were worried that the government may end up creating more problems than solving them. They expressed sadness that they would be leaving their ancestral homes to a place they do not have any cultural affinity to.  

A native in Utako Village, Shedrack Alison, said government had failed to carry them along in its plans. He said regardless of the nobility of the project, residents buy-in was important to ensure its success.

Alison who said Utako Village was his ancestral home said no youth in the community was aware of the planned resettlement, “The last time we heard about it was in 2008 when the government said we would be resettled around Mpape, since then, until you said it, we have not heard anything.”

He said government should be serious with the resettlement and must be ready to provide answers to some questions, including job opportunities, as there was hardly anyone in the community that engaged in farming.

“Since our farmlands were allocated to developers, we have been doing businesses to make ends meet. So will the government resettle us there and provide farmlands or job opportunities to thousands of our people?” he queried.

He said regardless of what government had planned, life could not be the same in their new community as they were emotionally attached to their ancestral community.

“I was born here, so leaving here will be emotional for me, but we can’t fight the government. We can’t move now because we are not aware. Before we move, there must be settlement because I can’t leave with everything I have here,” he said.

Another  resident, David Danlami, said it baffled him how government would resettle his family of 22. He said if not properly handled, several natives would become destitutes on the streets of the city.

On his part, Sule Ajere, was concerned about the availability of basic amenities they are already enjoying. Though Utako Village is a densely populated area, with poor planning, he said they had access to electricity, good roads and could easily go to their businesses.

“All these could change when we are resettled. The resettlement will be by force because we can’t fight the government,” he said through an interpreter.

Shere-Galuwyi Community in Bwari Area Council is about 15 minutes’ drive from Mpape. A deplorable road that is usually slippery during wet season leads to the community. Already,  erosion is threatening to cut off the community from the rest of the FCT as some portions of the road have been degraded.

In the housing facility, there were overhead tanks, but there was no water, while the electricity poles are without electricity. Electrical installations like poles and cables have deteriorated due to non-use , while some have been vandalised and the only health centre was already overstretched.

Government said it had built more than 2261 housing units on about 900 hectares to accommodate the resettled residents.

When Aso Chronicle visited Shere-Galuwyi Community, some of the houses, ranging from two to four bedrooms, looked dilapidated. Although some people were seen renovating the houses, a resident expressed concern over the quality of work, describing it as “poor”.

A resident, Joseph James, said the houses were built during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo but that they were abandoned over time. Although he commended the move of the government to resettle the natives, he said without the provision of necessary amenities such resettlement could spell doom for the people already staying in the community.

“It is a good move but government should provide boreholes, good roads, electricity, schools and markets before bringing them here,” he said.

The houses were mostly occupied by police officers before they were evicted. One of the police officers said they drank from an open well and that there was no electricity, schools and good roads within the community.

The policeman who had stayed in one of the two-bedroom housing units since 2015 said several police officers occupied the houses until they were issued a quit notice to vacate before January 30, 2018. Despite the ultimatum, some of the officers still stayed in the houses because they were yet to relocate. 

“Infrastructures, include all the network of roads, electricity, water supply, health care centres, schools and other basic amenities are in process,” he said.

He told  Aso Chronicle that, “In a few weeks to come, the houses will be handed over to the people.”

According to the FCT Director Resettlement and Compensation, Engr. Babakura Umar,  said the Administration had been taken to task by Jabi Yakubu adding that where they would be relocated to was already put in place and  work on the infrastructure was 80 percent completed. He said in the next two months work will be completed and Jabi Yakubu natives would be relocated to  Shere-Galuwyi.

“As for the other villages saying they are not aware of the movement, this is how it works, we prepare a time table and then we commence engagement with them and from experience, we don’t want to start giving them dates and then keep on moving them, there is a robust mechanism on ground where the relevant Area Council in this case AMAC and Bwari, will meet with the traditional rulers, will agree with them and we now put the timeline. Now we are experimenting with Jabi Yakubu now. We will learn from that movement and move on to another community.  Some communities like Utako, Jabi Samuel, Zuliu  have already approached us but we are starting with Jabi Yakubu to learn from their experience  and then we move to another” he said. 

When asked what facilities FCTA has made provision for, Umar said almost all facilities from schools, clinic,  electricity, water, drainages, roads and police station have been put in place.