FCTA Defends Clampdown On Vehicles With Tinted Glass

…Removes Over 1,000 Shanties

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has justified its clampdown on vehicles with tinted glass despite a directive by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) that enforcement should commence in October 2025.

According to the FCTA, the clampdown was driven by urgent security concerns.

Speaking during a city sanitation operation on Monday, the FCTA Director of Security Services, Adamu Gwary, represented by the Director of the Command and Control Unit, Dr. Peter Olumuji, said many of the permits currently in circulation are fake and have been linked to criminal activity, especially the notorious “one-chance” robberies in the nation’s capital.

“We’ve been able to carry out clearance operations within the City Centre, especially impounding vehicles with tinted glasses. Constant reports indicate that such vehicles are frequently used for one-chance (robbery). While some argue that the IG pegged October 2025 for enforcement, the reality is that we have intercepted fake permits. Anyone with the capacity to forge a tinted permit also has the capacity to commit crime,” Olumuji said.

He stressed that waiting until October could expose residents to more risks, adding that public safety outweighs sentiments about timelines.

The operation also extended to the demolition of makeshift structures in Bunkoro District, popularly called Gwarimpa, near the Map Global Estate.

The Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, disclosed that over 1,000 shanties had already been cleared along the Ring Road 3 corridor.

“This stretch of about two kilometres had been taken over by shacks, squatters, and people of questionable character. Today’s exercise is part of the citywide sanitation operation aimed at enhancing security and reclaiming Abuja’s urban aesthetics,” Galadima told journalists.

He clarified that indigenous settlements were spared pending guidance from the Department of Resettlement and Compensation, but illegal structures that could serve as hideouts for criminals were being demolished.

“We have engaged the Resettlement and Compensation Department to ensure genuine communities are not displaced. But for non-indigenous squatters, we are telling them to move on,” he added.

Gwary and Galadima, however, assured residents that the FCTA would sustain its combined clearance and enforcement measures across the city.

They said the goal is to secure lives and property, prevent criminal activities, and ensure that ongoing infrastructure projects such as the N16 road corridor proceed without obstruction.