Residents of the Abattoir community behind the Abaji main market in the Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have expressed concern over the erosion that is threatening their houses.

Some residents, who spoke when Abuja Metro visited the community on Saturday, said the erosion had cut them off from accessing their neighbourhood and engaging in socio-economic activities.

They said the erosion had also forced some of them to abandon their houses and relocate to seek shelter inside Abaji town.

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Muazu Alhassan, a civil servant and resident of the area, told our reporter that the deplorable state of the erosion forced him to relocate with his family two months ago.

He said since he built his house and moved in with his family eight years ago, he had always joined hands with some of his neighbours to try to fix the erosion problem but all to no avail.

“Unfortunately, this year, the erosion got worsened in such that not only did I relocate, but some of my neighbours also decided to seek shelter in Abaji town,” he said.

He said the situation had also forced car owners in the community to be parking their vehicles away from the community because the erosion has made the road linking to the community impassable.

According to him, members of the community, including youths, mobilized in the months of July and August to fill parts of the road to enable them to access their homes.

“In fact, whenever it rains, the rain washes away the sand and stones. The next day again, we will mobilize ourselves during the weekends to fill the place, but when rain falls, it washes it away again,” he said.

Alhassan said members of the community had written repeatedly to the council authorities to come to their aid in fixing the erosion problem but had yielded no result.

Mrs. Comfort Mathias, a landlady who resides in the community, also complained about the erosion, which she said has affected her house in the area.

She said parts of her house collapsed during one of the heavy downpours in early September as a result of the erosion, which affected some of her properties.

“You know I’m a widow. And since I lost my husband over 11 years ago, at old Abattoir, I decided to build my own house and left my late husband’s house for two of my adult children that got married. Upon finishing building the house, I moved in with some of my younger children until two months ago, when the erosion affected parts of the house,” she said.

Mrs. Mathias, who is a trader that sells grains in Abaji market, said she and other neighbours always find it difficult to access the market due to the deplorable state of the road.

She said most residents usually pass through a bush path to access the market, adding that hoodlums always take advantage of the deplorable erosion to invade the community and rob residents at their homes.

“In fact, just last month, my neighbour’s house was attacked by hoodlums who took advantage of the bad state of the road and robbed the victims of their belongings. Even when you call for help, one cannot easily get to the community because of the erosion linking to this place,” she said.

Mr. Yakubu Abednego, the elder and chairman of the community, also spoke to our reporter, saying that hoodlums mostly take advantage of the deplorable erosion to invade the community through the bush path.

He said the community witnessed three invasions by hoodlums last month, who came and stole a motorcycle and also dispossessed some residents of their valuables.

He also said some residents who own farms in the community often find it difficult to move their crops from the farm to the market because of the erosion.

“Even during an attack when some hoodlums attacked one of the houses here, before the vigilante could arrive, the hoodlums had escaped into the bush because of the bad road caused by the erosion,” he added.

He appealed to the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to come to the aid of residents of the community by addressing the erosion problem to enable the residents to heave a sigh of relief.

When contacted, a senior official in the works department of the area council, who preferred anonymity, told our reporter that the head of works of the council had visited the site, including two other erosion sites at Wadata and Abattoir New Extension, to assess the situation.

“Just last week, the council’s head of works and his team visited that very erosion site you are talking about, including two other ones at Unguwar Wadata and Abattoir New Extension, on the chairman’s directive to assess the situation, and they took pictures of the place,” he said.

The source said the department had written a report and attached the pictures to the council chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Abdullahi, for action.

“I believe the chairman will present the report to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for intervention,” he said.

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