The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it seems, will no longer be a comfortable place for beggars, hawkers and sex workers, as its Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, recently inaugurated a 19-man team to ‘sanitise’ the territory, AYONI M. AGBABIAKA writes
Last week, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) set up a special permanent task force committee to enforce all FCT bye-laws.
The Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, while inaugurating the 19-man committee, said the committee is to ensure that the ban on commercial motorcycles, restriction of tricycles (Keke-NAPEP) to designated areas in Abuja metropolis are maintained.
The task force team, which is headed by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, would also identify “flash points” for street hawking, begging, commercial sex activities and other untoward activities in the metropolis, for “effective pin down operations”.
Also, the committee would develop viable options and strategies for effective waste management in the city centre, particularly by enforcing the provisions of the AEPB Act; arrest, detain and prosecute environmental sanitation defaulters, street beggars and hawkers and their sponsors.
It would also carry out sting operations in the hideouts occupied by suspected criminals with a view of forestalling nefarious activities in the territory.
The committee is also tasked to evolve strategies that will reduce gridlock and ease traffic flow in the metropolis, as well as conduct massive enlightenment campaigns in the print and electronic media on the need for residents to abide by the city’s management laws.
Before the committee was set up, the Minister was reportedly on an emergency tour of the territory from his official residence at Life Camp through Kubwa to Umar Musa Yar’Adua way, Airport Road to Area 1 and 3, and encountered many Okada (commercial motorcycles) riders who have been banned from operating in the city centre. The tour also revealed that street hawking is still very active in the city.
“You have seen it yourself and I have shown the directors that all the information that they have been giving me in files are lies.
“They have been telling me that all the city is clean. We went round the city, and discovered that all they were saying are not true. They told me there are no street traders, I saw street traders everywhere. They told me there are no beggars, we saw them everywhere. They told me there are no okada riders, in fact the okadas are more than the vehicles,” he said.
Expressing serious warning to the residents, the Minister said: “I am becoming disillusioned and disgruntled; me and my colleagues, the minister of state and the permanent secretary. We have read the riot act to the directors, we are sending notice to all those people that are violating our bye-laws, that enough is enough; nobody will be allowed to operate Keke-NAPEP where they are not allowed to, nobody will be allowed to ply okada in our city with impunity any longer because they infringe on the security and of course the street traders. They are under notice to stop because we are going to enforce that stoppage with the help of security operatives.”
However, the chairman of the committee, Mr. Mbu, said FCT is not for all kinds of people, and anybody found wanting will be duly prosecuted, adding that the level of lawlessness in the territory is too high.
“There is so much indiscipline, recklessness in driving, even when a traffic warden stops motorists so that the other lane can move, they will disobey.
“We are going to get to a period where if you just see a finger of a police personnel or any security agency up, you will stop; if you don’t stop, no matter whom you are, if you don’t stop, you will be prosecuted.
“The FCT is not meant for everybody, so we don’t want criminal elements in the territory. If you have nothing doing in the territory, leave, otherwise we are going to arrest you. we will use the relevant section of the law and we will prosecute you.
“This is the administrative capital of Nigeria and it’s supposed to be exemplary. It is supposed to be a place of decorum, highest standard and discipline. These things do not exist. I am using this medium to appeal to all okada and Keke NAPEP riders and to appeal to all undisciplined citizens that they should make sure that they obey the laws because in few days time, we are going to enforce all these laws. If you are not supposed to hawk within the town please go back to where you are supposed to hawk, because we are going to arrest you. We are going to seize your goods and we are going to prosecute you”
He said FCT will soon wear a new look, because all forms of recklessness and lawlessness would be tackled.
“We will do the job with human face and heart, but residents must be ready to obey the law. When you look at the whole city, you will see that the people are lawless; you will see cars without plate numbers, while some have tinted glasses. All these will be stopped in a short time; the city will wear a new look. Action speaks louder than voice,” he said.
However, the coordinator, Abuja Municipal Management Council (AMMC), Mr. Ruben Okoya, is the deputy chairman of the committee while the Deputy Director of Administration, U.S. Atang, is the secretary.
However, Blueprint observation revealed that even though the presence of street trading in places like Kubwa, Berger, Dutse, Lugbe among others can still be felt, and the operation of motorcycles in some parts of the territory like the popular Area 3 junction still in top gear, there is little or no presence of street beggars in the territory except for the “cooperate” beggars who cannot be readily identified among the teeming populace of the territory.
