BOMA DIPRIYE
ABUJA, Nigeria – The warehouse belonging to the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), yesterday came under attack by hoodlums, who looted all the food items as well as vandalise the facility.
Confirming the incident at the warehouse located in Dei-Dei, the spokesperson for the Secretariat, Zakari Aliyu, said that items worth millions of naira have been lost to the unfortunate situation.
According to eyewitness, hoodlums struck at its Dei-Dei warehouse when food items were being offloaded into the facility.
The situation could be unconnected to the current economic hardship across the country.
Aliyu said the secretary had earlier visited the warehouse, where the residents had looted everything in the store and vandalised the place, removing the roofs and windows.
He added that the FCT Minister of State, Dr Mariya Mahmoud, and the FCT Mandate Secretary, Agric Secretariat, Lawan Geidam, will again visit the facility on Monday where more detailed information will be given regarding the incident.
“We visited the scene of the incident this morning. We visited with the Secretary and some other officials of the Secretariat. So, by tomorrow, the secretary, I think, with the Minister of State, will pay another visit to that place. I am sure that a lot of information will be useful to you, you will get it. If you can just be patient, tomorrow you will get all the information you need. If you go there, there is nothing there. If you know that place, do you know that they removed the roof and the windows inclusive, apart from the food items?” He said.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has denied the alleged looting of its warehouse in Abuja.
This was contained in a statement issued by NEMA Press Unit and signed by Manzo Ezekiel.
“The attention of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has been drawn to media reports on Sunday alleging that the Agency’s warehouse was looted by some hoodlums in Abuja.
“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.”
