The human rights group, Federation of the Urban Poor, on Saturday said the Federal Capital Territory Administration has evicted and demolished homes of over 800,000 residents of the FCT.

The figure includes 10,000 persons that have been displaced since the recent demolition exercise by the FCT in the past few months.

The President of FEDUP, Mr. James Ugah, said this at a press briefing in Abuja.

He said, “For the past eight years, statistics have revealed that over 800,000 people have been evicted due to demolition in the FCT right from 2006 during the administration of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and now. About 10,000 of this figure have been displaced from their homes due to the recent demolition of houses in FCT.

“That was from a United Nations Development Programme report but the FCT Minister then, el-Rufai said the FCT was originally planned to host 1.5 million inhabitants but incidentally it went up to over five million people.”

According to Ugah, 70 per cent of FCT residents live in the slums that lack good sanitary and toilet facilities.

He noted that provision of housing for the poor remained a global challenge.

He said, “The urban poor are left with the option of adopting unconventional self-help efforts that result in low quality and, sometimes, unauthorised settlements.”

The aim of FEDUP forum, Ugah said, was to address the housing challenges of the urban poor.

– The Punch