The Benue State government, North central Nigeria, has revealed marking no fewer than 800 houses built on waterways for demolition to avert flooding as the rainy season approaches. This was revealed by the General Manager, Benue State Urban Development Board, Mede Ternongo, to journalists in Makurdi on Thursday. It was, however, disclosed that over 40 illegal structures defacing major roads and streets within Makurdi, the state capital were demolished on Wednesday. Ternongo said the exercise was part of Governor Hyacinth Alia’s determination to revitalize the state capital, adding that the board was given the mandate to restore the city’s lost glory and sanity. He stated that in the first phase of the exercise, the agency was able to remove over 40 shanties developed around town and opened roads that were blocked by developers in the state. Ternongo said the exercise would continue in places where houses are blocking access roads across Makurdi. He said, “We intend to open the roads, major access routes in the city. We just started with the South bank area of Makurdi and very soon we will move to the North bank area of Makurdi. “If you go to the North bank area around the Catholic Church, you will see containers lying on the fence and it has reduced the road size and defaced the environment. “Enough notice was served on the affected people because we don’t want to remove or demolish any property without giving notification.”
Ternongo said the governor had given the agency the necessary equipment and support to achieve the task. “The governor has graciously provided us with the necessary logistics to be able to carry out this exercise; we also get support from the construction firm called Triatcta, which is undertaking construction works in the state. “The governor has promised to give us a bulldozer and pay loader and operational vehicles to ease our jobs. “I have discussed with the governor the need to build a GSM village for the mobile phone dealers and I believe after this exercise I will go back to the governor and see how we can commence the building of the village. We have identified the spot and I have told him and he accepted,” he said. He advised developers to always seek approval from the board before erecting any building to avoid the spread of illegal structures that could cause blockage of drainages, leading to massive flooding in the state.
