Fashola Replies Amnesty International, To Build 1,008 Flats In Badia
Posted by: Channels Television Posted date: August 12, 2013 In: Headlines | comment : 1
[]The Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fasola, in a counter response to allegations made by Amnesty International has refuted claims that his administration is displacing some residents by pulling down their buildings.
A report by the organisation stated that an estimated 9,000 residents of Badia East lost their homes or livelihoods. However senior officials in the Lagos state government had claimed that the area was a rubbish dump.
According to Oluwatosin Popoola who is Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher, “The effects of February’s forced eviction have been devastating for the Badia East community where dozens are still sleeping out in the open or under a nearby bridge exposed to rain, mosquitoes and at risk of physical attack”.
However, Governor Fashola countered Amnesty’s allegation that the government’s plan is to solve problems and ensure better living for residents. “That is why I have committed to build 1,008 flats in Badiya, to take people out of living on the refuse heap.”
He added that his government has decided to pay attention to the community which had hitherto been ignored. “That place has been there since I was a child and we have carried on as if nothing happened”.
“The easiest thing to do is to take a bull-dozer and bulldoze a slum because governments don’t create slums, it is people who do.”
He added that his administration’s plan is to “bulldoze away your difficult conditions” by providing roads, drainages and primary healthcare
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