Looting in Abuja is criminal not hunger – Minister

Looting in Abuja is criminal not hunger – Minister

The Minister of State of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Mariya Mahmoud, has revealed that the administration would reinforce security across government-owned warehouses in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser Media to the FCT Minister of State, Austin Elemue, on Monday.

The development follows the looting of a warehouse in Gwagwa-Tasha, belonging to the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCTA at Gwagwa in the Abuja Municipal Area Council, on Sunday.

The Spokesperson for the Secretariat, Zakari Aliyu, and the Public Relations Officer of the Police Command had both confirmed the incident and the arrest of 15 persons in connection with the vandalisation of the warehouse.

Mahmoud, upon her visit to the warehouse on Monday, expressed disappointment with the incident, describing it as being beyond hunger, but an act of criminality.

The minister lamented the looting of food items, stating that the youth in the area, had reportedly instigated the attack and also carted away machinery in the warehouse.

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“This is really a bad situation. And it is not something that the Administration will take lightly. All those that are involved must be brought to book. We have to do something. And also, this is a sign that we need to reinforce the security situation around all our warehouses because you just have to keep food.

“But the way this thing happened is beyond hunger. This is a criminal act. Somebody who is hungry cannot move out to remove all the roofings that are here. All the doors, all the windows, and also the gates.

“As you have heard from people around, the youth of the environment or the community, are suspected to have instigated this incident. So, this is a very sad event. And we are not happy about it”, she said.

Mahmoud explained that the incident occurred when the Administration was restocking its warehouse, to meet up with the directive of Mr. President to distribute palliatives to all six area councils in the FCT.

She further stated that the Administration would prosecute those behind the ugly incident, noting that the FCTA would renovate the warehouse in due time.

“We did distribution about twice. And then about to do the third one, where these trucks were here to offload these food items, and then they were attacked, even injured some people on duty.

This is not showing that we are good ambassadors of the nation. So definitely we are going to take action about this event that has happened. We have to reconstruct, not even renovate this warehouse, all the offices, and then the gates that are damaged”, she stated.

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