The recent demolition exercises in Enugu State have created more pain and panic than whatever value that might be buried in those projects.
By Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga
In the past week, there have been sudden gatherings of sorrows, tears, and blood, as the Enugu State Government under the leadership of Governor Peter Mbah embarked on an unprecedented demolition of parks, markets, and private properties.
The gale of destruction, executed with what looks like a predetermined despotic dispatch that jettisoned sensitivity to humanity and the rule of law affected thousands of people, businesses, and even educational institutions across Nsukka, Enugu metropolis and Gariki, in Awkunanaw, a satellite town in Enugu.
In Nsukka, the Enugu State Government mobilized bulldozers and brought down shops, stalls, and kiosks of businessmen around the perimeters of the town’s main motor park. Not done, the Government extended its long arms of affliction to sections of Nsukka Main market, crushing everything in sight.
In Enugu, the agents of the Enugu State Government destroyed the main transportation hub in the state capital around Holy Ghost Cathedral. While discussions were going on regarding how the government should have given prior long notices to quit during which alternative places should be provided, the government launched its action, levelling the entire area in minutes.
Interestingly, the Enugu State Government extended its long fingers of impunity to Our Saviour’s Institute of Science and Technology (OSISATECH), a private institution of higher learning belonging to a charismatic catholic priest, Rev Fr Emmanuel Edeh. This educational institution was levelled despite a court order obtained to prevent the school’s demolition.
If there have been suspicions that the administration in Enugu State is insensitive to public sentiment and disdainful of the rule of law, the demolition of OSISATECH tended to validate it. It is scary that a government that swore to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is routinely disobeying court orders.
The demolition of shops, a section of the Ogige Market is also quite troubling. This is because of the dislocation of hundreds of businesses on which the livelihoods of ordinary people and their families are dependent.
Interestingly, these businesses were forced, only a few months ago, to pay huge taxes and levies on those shops. It is curious that the Enugu State Government waited until it had collected these levies and taxes before destroying the sources of those funds.
While it is understood that some of those areas demolished have constituted challenges of congestion and are due for some form of urban renewal, it must be recognized that no urban renewal activity has ever happened in one fell swoop. Development, especially as it affects urban renewal is an incremental activity that takes cognizance of impacts on persons and businesses. A government that is genuinely focused on renewal approaches such changes with the well-being of the people as its priority.
This is why it raises serious concerns that the government of Enugu State began these activities without any form of consultation with the people and communities affected. More serious is the fact that there was no plan for relocation of those businesses to other locations before the demolition.
It has been learned that the government intends to build motor parks in those areas that had been demolished, but what nobody has established is how a motor park was considered more important than the sources of livelihood of thousands of people. There were two more viable options open to the government: either relocating the markets and businesses in those areas to another location, if the motor parks must be at the heart of the city or building the garages on the outskirts of the city.
Many people observing what is going on in Enugu are increasingly worried about why Governor Mbah has decided to usurp the powers given to the local government areas by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is because this apparently hastily conceived plan to rebuild motor parks is the constitutional responsibility of local government councils and not the state government. The same goes for most of the taxes his government has imposed and has been forcefully and illegally collecting from traders and artisans in the state.
The essence of government everywhere in the world is the aggregation of the needs of the people into a pool where common solutions are incubated; it is the building of consensus on what constitutes the common good bearing in mind the social, economic, and even personal sensitivities. Democratic legitimacy ultimately belongs to the people, and that is why everything governments do must factor in the sensitivity of all concerned.
But it appears that in Enugu State, under the current administration, the government considered its needs to be higher and more important than those of the people. There is no sign clearer that the needs of the people were not considered unimportant by the government than the lack of consultation that preceded these actions. The disobedience by the government, of a court order against the demolition, is also viewed by every right-thinking member of society as inherently tyrannical.
While it is too late in the day to, as they say, to put the toothpaste back into the tube, the Enugu State Government should take immediate remedial steps to ease the burdens of all the people displaced by the demolition.
Efforts should also be made to build new markets to accommodate all the people affected by the demolition exercise. Shops in those markets must be allocated at no cost to the people, while amenities that would drive traffic to the new locations must also be provided.
The Enugu State Government should immediately conduct a census of all the people affected by the demolition exercise and pay due and adequate compensation to them. The compensation should include the cost of the lost structures, assets, and inventory and the estimated earnings for the period between the date of the demolition and the time the government provides alternative markets.
The Enugu State Government must take immediate steps to respect court orders as is the practice in every civilized democratic country. A culture of disrespect to the judiciary is tantamount to disloyalty to the Constitution which provides for three independent arms of government that act as checks on one another.
It is also important for the government to stop side-stepping active engagements with the people. Nobody is against development. However, the views, needs, and priorities of the people must be constructively sought and factored into all decision-making processes. That is why it is called the government of the people, and by the people, and for the people.
Lastly, it must be noted that the administration of Peter Mbah appears to have waited for almost one year after taking the reins of government to be jolted into desperate development projects.
While every development project is appreciated by the people, they should be approached bearing in mind the sensitivities of the people and the letters of the law. You cannot build an enduring democracy by disobeying courts and spreading grief and economic dislocation among the people you took an oath to change their circumstances.
Rome was not built in a day, as the saying goes, but the Romans achieved their success by building every day. This is why we reiterate that development has to be incremental. The recent demolition exercises in Enugu State have created more pain and panic than whatever value that might be buried in those projects.
Hon. Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga, was the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 Governorship elections in Enugu State.
