Date: 2016-10-26

Some stakeholders within Ilorin metropolis have expressed concern over construction of shops along Government Secondary School (GSS) Ilorin and called for demolition of the shops.

The stakeholders made this call at the weekend in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital during a public hearing on illegal construction of shops and water reservoir opposite Unilorin staff quarters.

In their various submissions, the stakeholders insisted vehemently that the on going shop construction at GSS and GRA Water Reservoir be demolished, as the projects would be injurious to the inhabitants of Ilorin metropolis, and destroy the age long aesthetic value of green areas initiated by successive governments in the state.

The affected stakeholders which included, the state chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union, the Head of Department of Regional and Urban Development, University of Ilorin, the Chairman of the Unilorin chapter of Academic Staff Union of University, Dr U A Raheem, the Old Students of Shiekh Abdulkadir College, Muri Adi Estate and Valuers and the Petitioners GRA Residents Association praised the doggedness of the Legislature, saying that the house had demonstrated through the Public Hearing that governance is by the People and for the People.

Other stakeholders, especially those from the side of the state government said the shops may not be injurious, if adequate measures were put in place, by the relevant agencies of government to mitigate against identified disasters, due to the construction of the shops in the affected areas.