Economic Hardship: Suspected Hoodlums Loot FCTA Agric Warehouse

Suspected hoodlums yesterday looted the food store belonging to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Agriculture Secretariat in Gwagwa area of Abuja.

The spokesman of FCTA Agric Secretariat, Zakari Aliyu, confirmed the incident, stressing that the persons did not only loot all the food items in the store, but also vandalised and carted away doors and windows of the facility.

He confirmed that the criminals swarmed on the store when they were offloading food items into the facilities on the morning, carting away all food items with other valuables in the secretariat, estimated at millions of naira.

He said there may be an official visit by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike to assess the level of vandalism.

THISDAY also gathered that the police were promptly deployed to the scene to prevent a total breakdown of law.

The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, also confirmed the incident, but however, disclosed that the situation had been brought under control.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has refuted reports alleging that its warehouse was looted by some hoodlums in Abuja, yesterday.

The denial was contained in a statement issued by Manzo Ezekiel of NEMA Press Unit.

"This is to clarify that the looted warehouse does not belong to NEMA. However, the agency sympathises with owners of the looted facility.

“To forestall any security breach at NEMA facilities, the Director General, Mustapha Ahmed, has directed Zonal Directors and Heads of Operations to strengthen security in and around the Agency’s offices and warehouses nationwide," the statement said.