… as police arrests 71 lotters
By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCDA, Mallam Musa Muhammad promised to arrest and punish hoodlums responsible for looting warehouses and factories at the Idu Industrial zone of the territory.
Bello who took a tour of the zone . yesterday to assess the level of damage done to some of the factories and warehouses in the wake of #EndSARS protests was accompanied by the heads of the various security agencies and military formations in the FCT, traditional, community and business leaders as well as senior staff members of the FCTA.
Mallam Bello who expressed extreme displeasure at the looting and damage to property by the hoodlums pledged that the arrested culprits will be duly prosecuted.
The Minister assured that the FCT Administration was working with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Idu Industrial Zone is protected because it is the industrial nerve center of the city where thousands of residents are employed along the manufacturing value chain.
He also called on the residents of the community especially staff of the affected companies to be vigilant and volunteer information to the security authorities as to the possible identity of the looters adding that discussions were being held with the community leaders in the area with the intention of tracking and recovering the looted items.
He also urged the business owners to cooperate with the security agencies for the recovery of the looted items, many of which he said are specialized machines and equipment that cannot be easily disposed of.
The Minister urged residents to be more security conscious as efforts are made to beef up the security of the area.
He said, “All these shanties attached to the walls of factories shouldn’t be here because once they are here, you don’t know who is there. They are neither staff, they are neither people from the city. But if it is inside the factory, we know they are staff.”
” So, this is one area we have to work together with you to clear everything so that whoever is here is somebody that is meant to be here”.
Meanwhile FCT Commissioner of Police Bala Ciroma said that the police command has arrested 71 suspected looters, vandals and hoodlums and recovered some of the stolen items.
He said “. We have adopted a very strong strategy in most of our neighboring villages where we are liaising with the villages there. Wherever they see items stolen and hidden in the forest, we will be going there to recover them. The company officials are also cooperating with us and giving us every necessary assistance to recover most of the items”.
Chairman of the Abuja, Nasarawa and Niger Branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr Odun Emasealu commended the efforts of the FCTA in containing the situation during the vandalisation of warehouses and factories.
