Abia tells tenants of 1,800 illegal buildings to quit

The Abia State government has reinstated its resolve in the demolition of 1800 already identified buildings built on drainages in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state. It urged tenants in the affected buildings to commence vacation from the buildings.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Thoedore Orji,  Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue, who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Umuahia, said that the warning should serve as the last for those involved or living in such houses, as government will not be held responsible when the demolition exercise commences.

Emezue said that several notices have been issued through both the print and electronic media within and outside the state, stressing that what they intend to achieve was for everyone to be aware before the exercise starts and not be caught unawares.

He denied the rumours making the rounds that government do not have the mind to carry out the demolition exercise, saying, “We want to ensure that everything is put in place to avoid people hijacking it and using the period to demolish other people’s houses and causing trouble for government”.

 Reacting against opposition’s claim that Governor Orji does not deserve the awards he recently  received from some institutions,  Emezue said that he deserved all of them, as there are numerous things he had done for the state and its people since he assumed office as the governor of the state.

 He urged the members of the opposition to oppose responsibly.

 “We are not saying that they should not oppose us but they should do it responsibly to avoid their losing credibility. We all know that my boss had secured the state from kidnappers and other violent crimes”.

On the issue of the state government owing workers, the CPS said that there is no truth in the rumour as all the workers in all the ministries, parastatals and local governments areas in the state are not being owed several months of their salary, as they have been paid.

Emezue said that it is only one council area in the state that is being owed, “Because of its inability to submit its workers payment vouchers after the biometric data capture and once they comply with the biometrics system, their money is there in the bank and they will be paid without any delay”.

He accepted the fact that there are many complaints arising from the biometric exercise, stressing that it made the governor to set up a biometric committee to look into their complaints and that after submitting their reports the governor also set up a review committee.

The Compass