Kwara Demolishes Illegal Structures

The Kwara State Government has embarked on demolition of illegal  structures in the state capital, Ilorin.

Executive Secretary of the state Town Planning Authority, Mr Raimi Adeoti, told Journalists on the sidelines of the exercise that government was determined to rid the state capital of illegal structure.

The exercise which was witnessed by newsmen, started from the Tanke area of Ilorin and had no fewer than 500 illegal structures pulled down.

Adeoti explained that enough notice was given to affected shop owners to remove their containers and other structures which contravened town planning laws, adding that owners of illegal structures had been warned since December 2012 to remove their wares with many of them refusing to heed the directive.

He also said the organisation placed advertisements on radio and television advising the traders to vacate the sites, pointing out that the determination of the state government in the urban renewal exercise cannot be compromised.

Many of the traders were sighted salvaging their wares from the rubbles created by the bulldozers, while some of the shop owners were also sighted weeping as they watched the bulldozers crush their shops.

Mr Moore Ezike, the owner of Moore Gas on Tanke Road told Journalists that the state officials gave them notice in December to shift their containers back from the set back.

He said many of them complied, adding that he was surprised at the exercise and that 18 cylinders were carterd away from his shop by the officials of the authority before he got to the shop.

Another trader, simply called Iya kudi condemned government’s decision to demolish shops without providing an alternative site.