Pigba, a slum in the FCT may not be very popular compared to many other slums which LEADERSHIP SUNDAY featured in the past. It nevertheless qualifies as a slum having all the trappings of a slum. In spite of warnings from the FCT authorities that the bulldozers were going to pull down the ramshackled houses in the area, the residents, landlords and tenants alike are still erecting more structures. CHIKA OKEKE reports:
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Pigba community is one of the slum settlements located along Apo, which is a few kilometers away from the mechanic village and the popular legislative quarters. The village is directly opposite LEA Primary School, Pigba. It is mainly dominated by Gbagyi natives though other settlers from other parts of the country live in the village. The community is a bit clean but due to the shacks built by some residents, it would be difficult for a stranger to gain access to most of the houses.? There are also private boreholes in the village but the few residents that cannot afford to buy water every day, depend on the well water for cooking and laundry.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY findings showed that despite the FCT warnings on illegal sale of lands by the traditional rulers, residents have continued to build more houses in the village even as some attested that the traditional ruler of the village was still in the business of selling lands. It was also learnt that the community had only one private hospital, ‘Pigba Medical Centre’ that attended to their medical needs while other amenities like electricity, good roads were virtually absent except at the LEA Primary School donated by AMAC in 2009. Most houses had makeshift toilets but for the new houses, their toilets were built inside the bedrooms. Residents that do not have access to toilet facilities, defecate in the bush.
A woman who identified herself as Mrs Lami was seen supervising 3 flats of 1-bedroom which she admitted belonged to the brother. She told the reporter that she could disclose the exact price for renting each bedroom since it was still undergoing construction, noting that are “houses are of different quality and anyone that is of good quality will attract higher prices. Since the house belongs to my brother, I do not know the exact amount that he will put it until when he must have completed the houses. Even if they want to demolish this village, they will not touch Gbagyi houses because we are the indigenes but other ones belonging to non-indigenes will be demolished.
Another resident, Miss Ifeoma Uke informed this reporter that a self-contained room went for between N50,000 to N70,000 but the new buildings went for N60,000 to N80,000 depending on the quality and facilities inside the building. According to her, “we don’t have any vacant room in this compound but the self-contained at the back of our house may be rented between N50, 000 to N70, 000.?
A hospital attendant who spoke on condition of anonymity also confirmed that the community was on the verge of demolition, stressing that it was the major reason why electricity was not extended to the village.? “We admit people here and we currently have a patient on admission but we don’t have a specific price for admitting patients. The patient must deposit N3,000 each before we admit them. We treat them first and when we see that they recover, we will calculate the total money and the patient will pay. This medical centre is owned by an individual but it’s registered at the Health and Human Services Secretariat of FCT. We treat all cases here but anyone that is beyond us, we refer the patients to our other branches at Keffi or even at government-owned hospitals. For now, we run our services with generators because there is no electricity in this village. This is because the village has been mapped out for demolition and they may come at anything with their bulldozer. They (FCT) said that they want to extend pipelines through the community and that is why it must be demolished.
Another resident, Mrs Opeyemi Bisi runs a mini provision shop in the village. When asked about the processes involved in acquiring a piece of land, she says, “it’s only the chief that sells land, just go to him, he will sell to you. He measures 25 by 25 and 50 by 50. She refused to disclose the prices to which the traditional ruler sold each plot of land. We keep hearing that they will demolish this village but we are yet to see their bulldozers. Until then, we will continue with our normal activities here.
When LEADERSHIP SUNDAY visited the traditional ruler of Pigba, Chief Danlami Gbegbe, over his alleged involvement in the sale of the lands, he cleverly denied selling lands to any resident in the community and said: “It’s not here, it’s not in this village.
The traditional ruler, who hails from Gbagyi clan, said that he had lived in the village for several years while the community had existed for the past 200 years.
Gbegbe decried the absence of social amenities in the community and further appealed to the FCT administration to provide all the necessary amenities in the village especially electricity and pipe borne water. He says: “We are seriously in need of social amenities. We have a functional borehole but thieves stole the pumping machine and since then, our only source of water is gotten either from the well or we buy from residents that dug private boreholes. There is also no electricity here and we depend on generator as an alternative source of power supply. We have written severally to FCTA about our plight but nothing was done. Precisely, over a month ago during our meeting with them, they told us that they have approved the extension of electricity as well as water supply for this village. As I am talking to you, we are yet to see them and there`s nothing we can do about it. But if you can assist us and speak to them, we will be much happier. Also, we have a government primary school but no secondary school and government hospital. Though we have a civil defence office, we do not have a police station. We are appealing to the government to intervene and provide the community with every necessary social amenities that will make us comfortable.during our meeting with other traditional rulers, I heard that they will demolish other villages”.
The Public Relations Officer, Development Control Department of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Mrs Josie Mudashiru told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that all the Gbagyi natives would be resettled before their villages are demolished, while other settlers would not be entitled to any form of compensation.? She further adds: “Some of these settlements along Apo are really” not indigenous villages. It’s just people that went there to settle. As we go on with the removal exercise, any structure that does not have an approval will have to be demolished because we want people to get an approval for every building. If you have been in Abuja ten years back, was there such a settlement there? There were nobody on some of the existing slums and people were even scared to ply the road because it was very lonely.?
Recently, the FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed warned traditional rulers to desist from selling land saying that it was only President Jonathan that has the supremacy over land allocation to his office. He gave the warning when he addressed Graded Chiefs and District Heads in the FCT.
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