Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, has rebuked the suspected hoodlums who looted a warehouse in Gwagwa-Tasha on Sunday, saying their action was a sheer criminal act that was not in anyway motivated by hunger.
She said this yesterday at the end of an assessment visit to Gwagwa-Tasha to ascertain the level of damage to the warehouse where the palliatives for the six area councils were stored.
She also vowed that going forward, the FCT administration will now establish police posts in all government-owned warehouses to protect them from looters.
The minister decried the brazen stealing of all the grains and other food stuffs, including the roofs and fence of the storage facility.
She expressed outrage at the attitude of the youths within area, assuring that the administration would now establish a police post in all government warehouses across the territory to deter the recurrence of such act.
“We are here due to the unfortunate incident that happened early hours of yesterday, (Sunday) where hoodlums attacked this very warehouse and packed everything that was here, including the fence.
“Not only the food items that were here, including the roofing, windows, and even the gates of this place and offices were all attacked. You can see the level of damage. There is nothing that is left here, including machineries that are used for the processing of these things.
“As you have heard, 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,” Mahmoud said.
She also vowed that the administration would prosecute those behind the ugly incident, noting that the unfortunate incident occurred when the administration was restocking its warehouse with a view to meeting up with the directive of President Bola Tinubu to distribute palliatives to all the six area councils in FCT.
She said: “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, they even injured some people on duty.
“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 actually is beyond hunger. This is a criminal act. Somebody that is hungry cannot move out to remove all the roofing that is here. All the doors, all the windows, and also the gates.
“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.”
However, she warned that the incident may slow down the distribution of palliatives in the territory, saying the administration may have to reconstruct the warehouse, all the offices, including the gates that were damaged.
