Some illegally-operated parks and gardens in Abuja were recently demolished by operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). This followed several complaints received from residents who live around the neighborhood parks.

They complained that restaurants and beer parlour operators have taken over most of the parks, thereby constituting a threat to public safety. Cases of criminal activities in the parks have also been reported by the police.

Parks and gardens in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are meant to provide recreation that would encourage family relaxation in the neighborhoods where the parks are located. But most users of the parks abuse the beautiful landscape by utilizing the gardens for purposes other than those they are meant to serve. Events of the recent past reveal that the parks were not only turned into centres for the orchestration of crimes but equally became hideouts for criminals. Some of the parks became night clubs that operated into the late hours of the night even though environmental laws in the FCT provide for parks to close at 7.00pm. The hysterical noise produced by music as well as hot arguments that ensue from such gardens gradually became a source of nuisance to the public and a threat to the security of lives and property around the neighborhood parks.

While we applaud the sacking of illegally-operated parks in Abuja city, we similarly remind the FCT administration that the Abuja master plan should adequately cater for the interest of those who operate local restaurants. Many of those who are unable to relocate their families to Abuja for logistic and other genuine reasons eat from these restaurants operated within the parks. Such also provide employment and legitimate sources of income to the operators. It is because the relevant authorities in the FCT have failed to take cognizance of this category of restaurants that the operators had to carve out places for themselves, within the parks and gardens, sometimes with the consent of officials from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB). However, the worthy purpose which these restaurants appear to serve is not good enough reason to justify their operating outside the limits provided by law.

The development of a new capital city in a developing country such as Nigeria, where seventy percent of the population is poor, should be made to accommodate the socio-economic realities of her citizens. It is not everyone who lives in the city who can afford to eat at the restaurants of the five-star hotels available within the metropolis. Even modern cities in the developed world have designated places where residents of the city who cannot afford the expensive services in exclusive restaurants and night-clubs, may wish to go and take their meals regularly. But the implementation of the Abuja master plan does not seem to recognize or appreciate this salient reality. The major streets of Abuja for instance, lack kiosks, canteens or rest stops where a pedestrian, after a long walk on the street, could stop over to have a cold drink or tea. Since these realities are left out in the master plan, Daily Trust calls on the implementers of the plan to find a way of building them into it. It would do no harm to the beauty of the city or its cleanliness if the AEPB could provide an area, within the city, specifically to accommodate the existence of these modest restaurants.

We call on those who have legal authority to the use of parks and gardens in Abuja to utilize them for the purpose for which they were created. They should also comply with the rules guiding the operation of such recreation centres and not to exceed the stipulated 7.00pm closing time. All stakeholders in these parks and gardens must realize the fact that though we need modest restaurants within Abuja metropolis, government and indeed all Nigerians cannot afford to compromise standards regarding our Federal Capital city. It should be the pride of our nation, where sanitation and security are of utmost concern.