Following the demolition of the Caramelo Lounge, Nigerians have taken to the social media, passing extremely critical remarks on the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
FCTA had in the early hours of Monday pulled down structures housing the popular Caramelo Lounge located on Plot 630 T.O.S. Benson Crescent, Utako District, Abuja.
Abuja-based journalist Kemi Yesufu wrote on Facebook: “Nigeria is currently run by a backward lot.”
According to Yesufu, “We have a government that claims it wants to diversify the economy, through sectors like tourism, yet women are arrested in its capital city and night clubs demolished based on self-righteous reasons.
“I recently visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and I felt really bad for my country with the number of tourists and business travellers visiting this city that looks like Lagos in the 80s.
“I thought to myself, Nigeria has better tourist attractions, better hotels, night clubs and better exposed personnel in the entire tourism chain.
“But when you have leaders like an FCT minister and police who are an unthinking morality squad, who simply have to wait for revenue from oil, how would they think out solutions to keep the streets safe and at the same time allow investors in the tourism sector flourish?
“I once covered the opening of multi-million naira entertainment centre in Abuja, which our pastor VP conducted the ceremonial cutting of the tape and very much unlike his team, not a single picture, tweet or statement on the relaunch of this business which employs many people.
“We won’t make progress until we stop electing so called good men into public office and back sane, business minded, less hypocritical people into office.”
Okey Ifeachor equally posted on Facebook: “It’s a shame that while entertainment center is demolished, the FCT administration has turned a blind eye to the menace of okada [commercial motorcycle riders] who disregard traffic rules with reckless abandon with motorcycles without number plates, posing high security risk to Abuja residents.”
Another social media user, Samuel Oloche Akoji expressed, “So of all the ills bedeviling Abuja city, from One chance robbers, electricity blackouts, bad road network, inadequate facilities/development in the satellite towns, lack of streetlight in most part of the city, paucity of traffic lights in most of the road junctions, Keffi-Abuja gridlock, high instance of almajirai [urchins] street begging, or even cattle herders moving in the city centre; his major priority is ridding the city of night clubs or arresting skimpily clad girls! Why are we cursed with visionless leaders? Ever since El-Rufai left, the FCT has never had a proactive minister.”
Authorities sited land use contravention as reason for their action.
However, the accountant of Caramelo Lounge, Mr. Lawan Boloruduro told Viewpoint Housing News that management of the hotel had been paying contravention fee for the use of the property and there was no plan to demolish it.
A man simply identified as Mr Obafemi who posted on a WhatsApp group said, “Contravention fee is irrelevant. They ought to have applied for a Change of Use and waited to see if the application would be granted.
“If application was refused, they would either vacate the site or would eventually be demolished. The management should learn a lesson from this.”
