There was fury on Tuesday in Makurdi, Benue State capital, as several illegal shops belonging to GSM repair technicians were demolished by the Beñue State Urban Development Board, BSUDB.
The BSUDB carried out the exercise to bring sanity to the area and it took the deployment of the military before peace could be restored due to the attendant protest by victims of the demolition.
President of the phone repairers, Mr Patrick Akor decried the demolition exercise, saying they were not notified by the BSUDB.
Akor said, “This is what we do to earn a living, and now they have demolished them without prior notice, and we have been paying revenue to the government.”
While addressing journalists,the Acting GM of the BSUDB, Mr. Ternongo Mede, said that the Board had several times engaged with the leaders of the association before embarking on the demolition exercise.
He explained that the essence of the demolition was to give the capital city, Makurdi, a befitting status.
Mede expressed concern about how the GSM technicians built structures around the electricity transformer, making it a death trap for themselves and their clients.
The acting GM accused the immediate past administration of engaging over 460 casual staff who were not paid, and this caused a big problem.
“We have reduced the number to 228 and management is still discussing reducing it to a sizeable and manageable figure of 60 staff that we can pay,” Mede said.
