Flooding: Wike probes illegal allotments of green areas, crackdown on car lots

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has directed the investigation of senior civil servants responsible for granting illegal approvals, authorising the use of green areas as car dealership lots in FCT.

Mr Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant to the minister on Public Communications and Social Media, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

Olayinka said that the affected civil servants, particularly the Directors of Parks and Recreation, Environmental Protection, Traffic Management and Urban Affairs have been summoned by the FCT Head of Service, Nancy Nathan.

He added that the minister had equally directed the immediate stoppage of the use of green areas, parks and gardens in the capital city as car dealership lots.

He said that a Task Force had been set up to enforce the directive.

“The minister decried the use of areas designated for parks and recreation like the Millennium Park and other areas as car lots.

“Wike had directed that all unauthorised use of such areas be closely monitored to ensure compliance.

“This is part of the FCT Administration efforts to manage the flooding being experienced in some parts of the capital city,” he said.

Recall that the minister on Tuesday directed the demolition of all houses and structures built on waterways across the FCT.

Wike equally directed the Director of Facility Maintenance and Management, Abuja Environmental Protection Board to commence desilting of drainages to tackle flooding of major roads in parts of the city.