Increasing activities of criminals in the notorious Monkey village in Area 1, Abuja, has compelled the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in partnership with relevant security agencies, on Tuesday to demolish houses and shanties in the village.
The notorious Monkey settlement situated behind the Federal Secretariat, was known for being a haven for criminals who preyed on the local civilian population.
Mr. Adamu Gwari, Director of Security Services for FCTA, bemoaned the level of crimes being committed by residents of the village and the Federal Secretariat’s close proximity to the village, stating that this was unacceptable and that all the offices and residents needed to be safe and secure.
“We all know the security implications of this type of shanties (Monkey village) harbouring criminals and with the caliber of offices, like the Federal Secretariat , shopping malls that are situated here, government cannot condone such illegalities and shanties and we have to ensure the government offices, residents, and other offices here are safe and secured,” he said.
Mukhtar Galadima, the Director, Department of Development Control, while fielding questions said the work is the continuation of the city sanitation that was ordered by the Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello a few months ago.
He lamented the abuse of land use in the area, one of such is the conversion of the road corridor to market, which according to him is unacceptable by the government and therefore must be removed.
Galadima charged all the owners of the land in that area to come and take over their respective properties in order to stop the squatters from coming back.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Comrade Ikharo Attah, said the belief that the Monkey village cannot be removed is very wrong and that is why they have metamorphosed from shanties few months ago to full fledge house built with cement and mud, cement blocks, so the village and market therefore had to go.
Attah said, “I think it is just the belief of people that the Monkey village in Area 1 cannot be removed and they have metamorphosed into a full fledged house built with cement and blocks. The land actually belongs to Nigerian Police and whatever they are planning for the future they haven’t started using it so the people moved in and they became so notorious, making it a criminal hideout and today we all came in here as a team.
“On Monday when we cleaned the other parts we discovered that people were packing their things into the Monkey village and we had to move in there and remove it. And the notorious Monkey village is history.
“And FCDA would inform the Nigerian Police to take over their property. The FCDA has a legal backing and the Police are keen to take over the property”, he said.
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