‘Hungry People Don’t Steal Doors, Windows’ — Minister Condemns Looting Of FCTA’s Warehouse In Abuja

… As FCTA To Deploy Security Agents To Government Warehouses

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has announced plans to deploy security operatives to all government-owned warehouses in Abuja.

The Minister of State of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Mariya Mahmoud, made this known in a statement issued on Monday by her Special Adviser on Media, Austin Elemue.

The decision followed Sunday’s invasion of a warehouse located in Gwagwa-Tasha, belonging to the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCTA, by hoodlums.

The incident took place amid the ongoing food crisis ravaging the nation.

Mahmoud, during her visit to the warehouse on Monday, expressed disappointment with the incident, describing it as not driven by hunger but criminal minds.

“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 President Bola Tinubu to distribute palliatives to all six area councils in the FCT.

She further stated that the FCTA would find and prosecute those behind the ugly incident, noting that the administration 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.