CAR dealers operating in Abuja may be in trouble as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has directed the immediate stoppage of the use of green areas, parks and gardens in the Federal Capital City as car dealership lots and sale stands.
News Point Nigeria reports that Wike’s directive is part of efforts by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, to address and manage the flooding being experienced in some parts of the capital city.
A statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Wednesday by the Minister’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said Wike had decried the conversion of areas designated for parks and recreation, including the Millennium Park and other such locations, into car dealership lots.
The Minister consequently directed that the use of green areas, parks and gardens as car sale stands must stop immediately.
According to the statement, Wike also ordered close monitoring of all unauthorised uses of areas designated for parks, gardens, recreation and green spaces to ensure strict compliance with the directive.
The development forms part of the FCTA’s broader efforts to tackle the flooding being experienced in parts of the Federal Capital City and ensure that designated areas are used strictly for their approved purposes.
Consequently, a Task Force has been set up to enforce the Minister’s directive and ensure compliance by car dealers and other persons using green areas, parks and gardens without authorisation.
Wike has also ordered an investigation into the activities of civil servants allegedly responsible for granting illegal approvals that authorised the use of green areas as car dealership lots.
The investigation is expected to focus on how approvals were granted for areas designated for parks, recreation and other green spaces to be converted or used as car sale stands.
The affected civil servants, particularly the Directors of Parks and Recreation, Environmental Protection, Traffic Management and Urban Affairs, have been summoned by the FCT Head of Service, Nancy Sabanti Nathan.
The summons and planned investigation are expected to determine the circumstances surrounding the alleged illegal approvals and identify those responsible for authorising the use of Abuja’s green areas, parks and gardens as car dealership lots.
News Point Nigeria findings reveal that a significant number of car dealers in Abuja, estimated at about 80 per cent, use designated green areas and parks as car stands and dealership lots, despite paying taxes and other levies to the government.
Speaking with News Point Nigeria on the development, an Abuja-based car dealer and owner of BeeCee Cars, Mukhtar Ibrahim Bichi, appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, to reconsider the ban.
Bichi argued that many of the green areas and parks currently occupied by car dealers could have become hideouts for criminals if the dealers had not taken responsibility for maintaining and securing them.
He said the operators not only pay substantial taxes to the government but have also helped to keep some of the areas active and properly maintained.
According to him, rather than impose a total ban, the government should consider a more structured arrangement that would allow car dealers to operate in designated areas while transforming the spaces into recreational centres capable of hosting organised car shows and other related activities.