Perennial erosion threatens Abaji residents

Pending the intervention of government, he said residents have evolved some survival techniques which included parking their vehicles with friends and walking home.

“Yesterday, I had to park my car at a friend’s house very close to the market because erosion has destroyed the road that leads to my house,” Samuel said.

He also complained over lack of electricity in the area, saying the community has written to the council on the need to extend electricity to Abattoir New Extension, but that the appeal was yet to yield any positive result.

Reacting, the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, blamed indiscriminate building of houses on erosion-proned areas as cause of the problem in the area, stressing that some people built their houses without allowing space for water channels.

He said it was unfortunate that residents of the community took advantage of farmlands to build houses without proper planning.

“Abattoir New Extension is one of the areas that is fast growing in terms of population, but those who started building houses in the area are responsible for the erosion problem. Majority of the houses are built on water channels. And that is why every year, we have incidents of flooding where houses and property are destroyed,” he said.

Ajiya said the council has commenced the construction of a road from Abaji Low cost to Abattoir for motorists and the people generally to move easily and access their homes.

“But on that of Abattoir New Extension, the council will write to the Satellite Towns Development Department to come to our aid in that regard,” he said.