The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), via its joint city enforcement team over the weekend, burst an illicit drugs colony, the enforcement team also dislodged notorious spots for environmental and sundry nuisances ranging from refuse littering, illegal markets, auto mechanic workshops as well as motor parks around popular AYA roundabout and environs, in Asokoro District.
The team, comprising officials drawn from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), otherwise known as the Vehicles Inspection Office (VIO), as well as a joint team of security personnel that provides security backing for the exercise, further abated environmental nuisances around Court of Appeal junction through Fed Secretariat complex, Eagle Square and Nicon Junction axis of Shehu Shagari Way.
Explaining the exercise, Secretary of FCTA Command and Control, Olumuji Peter, said it is in continuation of the FCT Administration’s commitment to ensuring that the city is kept safe for every resident.
Olumuji warned that henceforth, the FCTA is letting all those with criminal tendencies in the city know that they should change or better relocate to wherever they are coming from because the city would not be conducive for them, as the enforcement is continuous.
He disclosed that through credible intelligence from security agencies, the team burst a criminal hideout around Asokoro, where illicit drugs were recovered, and criminal elements that attack people traversing the area, especially in the nighttime, were dislodged.
He said, “We have been able to dislodge where they normally reside, and that is a good development for those traversing around the place, especially in the nighttime.
“We had gotten reports that people are being attacked whenever they traverse this environment. But with the action that we have taken now, such criminal activities here have been reduced to the barest minimum, which we hope to sustain.”
On whether any arrest was made during the raid, he said: “For now, were not able to make any arrest because when we entered there, most of them had escaped.
Similarly, Deputy Director, of Monitoring and Enforcement, AEPB, TPL Kaka Bello, noted that the whole effort is to ensure the city is clean and safe for the inhabitants.
He, however, bemoaned that environmental and sundry nuisances are increasing daily, which explains why a strategy was conceived working together with other relevant agencies.
He said: “AYA is one of the notorious places where we encounter many challenges whenever we come for such cleaning exercise, given the rate of nuisance here, which has been abated. And the illicit drug-related offences that were apprehended by the NDLEA officers.
“They are all interwoven, and we are working with other agencies to ensure we abate such nuisances. And it is a daily thing, which we would continue to do, as the city must be clean on a daily basis.”
On her part, Deputy Director, of Operations, DRTS, Deborah Osho, who described the exercise as a success, disclosed that about eleven vehicles were impounded and towed from illegal parks and mechanic workshops, with seven tricycles confiscated for alleged route violation.
“We are poised to clean the city in order to make the city safe and give its befitting name as the FCT”, she stressed.