FCT Minister, security heads meet over incessant kidnapping, banditry in Abuja

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3 years ago

Worried about the rising incidences of kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes in the nation’s capital, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello summoned an emergency security meeting with the heads of the various security agencies across the Territory.

Speaking at the end of the meeting the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr Babaji Sunday said that the FCT police command has already put in place measures to stem the tide of criminality in the nation’s capital and will also evolve better strategies to combat crime in the FCT.

He said, “We were summoned, all the security heads in the FCT for an emergency meeting where we deliberated a lot on the spate of kidnappings and banditry at the suburbs of the FCT, and we going to improve on our synergy and further strategize on what we have discussed. We have assured the house that they will see changes.”

The Police Commissioner also spoke on the need for residents of the Territory to provide actionable intelligence to security agencies in their battle against criminality in the FCT.

Babaji stated that “You know we cannot be everywhere and like the popular saying, security is everybody’s business. We expect the residents to always be security conscious, give us actionable intelligence which we will act upon.”

He also called on residents to form neighbourhood watches within estates and local communities to minimize the activities of criminals in those locations, saying that actions from such neighbourhood watch made up of credible members of the community will assist greatly in slowing down the actions of criminals.

He also advised commuters to go to recognized motor parks within the city to board vehicles saying that boarding unregistered commercial vehicles expose them to dangers in such unregistered vehicles in crimes known as “one chance.”

Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Security, Amb. Salihu Mohammed said that the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) was also working hard to clamp down on unregistered commercial vehicles used for the crime of “one chance”.

He said “Directorate of Road Transport is doing a lot on the issue of “one chance”. We know the profile of “one chance” vehicles, most of them are not registered or they use tinted glasses”. He called on commuters to avoid such vehicles” he charged.

In a related development, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has begun the rehabilitation of 33 traffic light intersections out of the 172 in the city.

Inspecting the project at the weekend, the permanent secretary Mr. Adesola Olusade said the first intersections were selected according to the priority of usage. He said the initiative was to pave way for smooth driving and also address the continued challenges of gridlock in the Federal Capital City.

According to Olusade, “For some time now, there have been issues with traffic signals in the Federal Capital City but with the award of this contract all the challenges associated with the traffic lights will be addressed”

On its sustainability, the Mandate Secretary FCT Transportation Secretariat, Zakari Dobi said adequate measures will be put in place by the secretariat to safeguard the millions naira worth traffic lights infrastructure scheme.

“The project is going to be for one year, but with 2022 budget it can be extended to 3 years considering its importance,” Dobi said.

However, the contractor Engr Adewale Ikatun explained that the project which is rehabilitation and reactivation of some intersections started in the last two weeks, and will last for three months in the first phase.

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