The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister of state, Mariya Mahmoud, on Monday, March 4, declared that the looting of a warehouse in the Gwagwa-Tasha on Sunday by hoodlums was beyond hunger, but a criminal act.
… Visits scene of incident
The minister made this declaration at the end of her assessment visit to Gwagwa-Tasha to ascertain the level of damage to the warehouse.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Mahmoud described what she saw as an unfortunate incident, a situation whereby hoodlums carted away all the grains and other foodstuff including the roofs and fence
The minister, who expressed disappointment over the attitude of the youths within the area, however, assured that the Administration would establish a police post in all government warehouses across the territory going forward.
Recall there was chaos as youths broke into a government storage facility in Gwagwa town of the FCT on Sunday and looted stores filled with food items.
Some residents, who spoke with The Nation, said youths in their number broke into the warehouse located around the Tasha area of the community around 7 am, looting bags of maize and grain.
About 15 suspects were arrested by the police for the act and some valuables were recovered from them.
The minister said: “We are here due to the unfortunate incident that happened early hours of yesterday, where hoodlums attacked this very warehouse and packed everything that is here, including the fence.
“Not only the food items that are 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 the types of machinery 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”.
The Minister revealed that the unfortunate incident occurred when the Administration was restocking its warehouse to meet up with the directive of Mr. President to distribute palliatives to all the six area councils in FCT, just as she vowed that the Administration would prosecute those behind the ugly incident.
According to her: “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 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 who is hungry cannot move out to remove all the roofings that are 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”.
Mahmoud, however, stressed that the incident may slow down the distribution of palliatives in the territory, saying, “We have to reconstruct, not even renovate this warehouse, all the offices, and then the gates that are damaged.”
THE NATION
