In continuation of the ongoing town hall meeting to address kidnapping and other crimes in the FCT, FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, visited Kwali Area Council yesterday.
In Kwali, Wike directed the Chairmen of the six area councils in the territory to strengthen the local vigilance teams in their areas by ensuring that their needs are adequately met.
Speaking at a security town hall meeting with stakeholders and residents of Kwali Area Council on Tuesday Wike said his administration has almost concluded procurement processes for more security vehicles.
Promising to ensure a swift deployment of the vehicles, Wike also assured the chairman that he would provide more motorcycles for surveillance.
He said, “I have listened to what the chairman has said. The chairman has virtually requested everything but he has not told me what he has done.
“For me, whatever that is going to bring development or improve security, the government has no hesitation. The president has directed me to let you know he feels your pains and that is why he has said I must go and see all the councils, talk to them, and tackle insecurity headlong.
“I can assure you that in a matter of days, you will be hearing positive stories. We are ready to support our security agencies in whatever they need to ensure that our people can sleep with their two eyes closed.
“We have almost concluded procurement of vehicles for security agencies. We are going to provide the councils with motorcycles to support the vigilance teams so that they can get information and assist the security agencies.
“Our youths, we have directed the council chairmen to ensure that the vigilance teams are well taken care of. We need information from you because, without information, the security agencies would have little or nothing to do. If you give them information on time, they will make sure that bad things don’t happen. “
On the issue of some bad roads fuelling kidnapping, the Minister asked the council chairman to recommend two more roads in addition to the earlier ones recommended to the FCT Administration for reconstruction.
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Promising that the President Bola Tinubu administration would not abandon the people of FCT, Wike said every year before submitting any budget proposal to the National Assembly, he would meet with traditional rulers and the people to get their input by way of getting them to recommend people-oriented projects that can be incorporated into the budget.
“We will not abandon you. We will make sure we develop the Area Councils. Before the end of the tenure of President Tinubu, you will see a lot of infrastructure going on in the Area Councils,” he said.
Earlier, the Kwali Area Council Chairman, Danladi Chiya had listed several challenges facing the Council and asked for the establishment of a police division in Gwako as well as a military base in another part of the council.
He said, “We have a lot of challenges security-wise. Indeed, we have challenges because of the hills surrounding Kwali. There are bad roads that the bad guys also use to abduct people. The roads are not motorable. Come to our aid to help put the roads in good shape. That will help reduce the incidences of kidnapping.
“We also require further military presence. We have vast lands. We need more police stations, especially in Gwako which has become a haven for these bad elements.
“We will write to your office because there is another road that has been abandoned by the contractors. Wherever they discover that the roads are not good, they use such spots as hideouts. Our people are prepared to chase them but for the bad roads.
“Then our stadium in Kwali, the bad boys have turned it into a hideout. There is little we could do on the stadium because it is an FCDA project. We also need motorcycles for the vigilance teams. I have given them some before but we need more and therefore I seek your intervention in this regard.”
*FCT strengthens ties with four neighbouring states over insecurity
The Minister also yesterday assured that security collaboration with four neighbouring states will be strengthened for synergy.
Wike disclosed this during a media chat in Abuja on Monday where he pointed out that the FCTA would not succeed in curbing the tide of insecurity without the collaboration of the neighbouring states.
The neighbouring states Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Kaduna share boundaries with the FCT and have constituted a major challenge to FCT.
He said that on assumption to duty as the FCT minister, he was informed about the efforts of the FCTA with the neighbouring states to form a security coalition.
He explained that the coalition was to serve as a platform to support one another to reduce the level of insecurity.
Recall that FCT has suffered kidnap attacks at border communities while some kidnap victims have been rescued in neighbouring states like Kaduna. The Niger State boundary communities have been under siege too.
The Minister, however, noted that the coalition was delayed because the governors of those states were distracted by election cases in the tribunal.
“Series of election petitions took the governors’ time, but now that most of the petitions have been settled, we will be having our first meeting next week. FCT will host the four states to fully implement the cooperation. If we don’t do that, it is going to be difficult.
“There is no day or week you will not hear that bandits attacked residents in Niger, bandits struck in Kaduna, and when that happens, where do they go to? They go to the forest bothering FCT and the neighbouring states.
“We will not just come together to have a meeting, no, there must be practical steps taken to reduce crime,” he said.
The minister expressed optimism that insecurity would soon be a thing of the past following the current security operations and the support from the area councils.
In a related development, Wike has advocated that stringent laws be put in place to deter criminals especially, kidnappers in the FCT.
He said currently, criminals were vandalising solar-powered street lights in the FCT, adding, however, that the penalty when caught is N30,000.
He pointed out that if a vandal is arrested and the court asks him to pay only N30,000 as punishment, the culprit would pay and go back to commit the same offence.
“What I am saying is that legislation should be put in place where it will no longer be easy for criminals to operate.
“If you are caught and the penalty is heavy, it gives you an option not to either participate in crime or pay a heavy penalty when caught.
“If for example you are caught and the penalty is N10 million, how many people can afford to pay N10m for just one solar panel? So, that will be a deterrent.
“This is why the legislators need to amend the laws and not to give a loophole where criminals will capitalise on and continue to perpetuate crime,” he said.
The minister urged Senator Ireti Kingibe, representing the FCT in the Senate, to consider initiating a review of existing laws that were put in place to fight crime in the FCT to make the punishments stiffer.
Wike also identified poverty as one of the drivers of crime and assured that the Federal Government was working on addressing it.
He urged Nigerians to be patient, adding that the measures being taken would, in the long run, improve the economy as a practical solution to poverty reduction.
*‘One chance’: FCTA to ban unpainted taxis, buses in Abuja
To stem the incidences of ‘one chance’ robbery in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike has disclosed that the FCT Administration is set to ban the operations of unpainted taxis and buses in Abuja.
This was one of the major disclosures of Wike’s security media chat on Monday.
‘Once chance’ is a well-known criminal trick where unpainted taxis trick unsuspecting commuters, only to rob them and dispose them of valuables.
Recall that only recently in Abuja one of such cases resulted in the death of a lady after she was thrown off a moving vehicle.
The minister, who said that the incidence of the menace of one chance had been brought down, added that stricter measures were necessary to end the trend in the FCT.
“We are not going to allow vehicles that are not painted with FCT colour and registered by the FCTA to ply commercial in the territory.
“That way, you know the driver is certified by the FCT, and the buses and the taxes were also approved by the FCT.
“When this is done, you as the passenger will not take the risk of going to enter any vehicle that you don’t even know,” he said.
Wike added that Uber operators would also need to register to operate in Abuja so that the government would know who the divers were.
He also said that the drivers needed to be certified and profiled by the security agencies, “this is a city, if you don’t have rules, there will be problems.”
The Minister expressed concern that the capital territory does not have an official terminal where residents can go and board a bus to a specific destination.
“But currently, everybody is just on the road. You are going to Nyanya, a car is on the road, you enter; you are going to Wuye, a car is on the road you enter.
“What we are trying to do in the 2024 fiscal year is to at least build three terminals for a start, so that we will know the buses and taxes that will carry people from such terminals.
“When this is done nobody will take the risk of going on the road to wait for a taxi. That way, you will be able to reduce crime,” he said.
