Following the spate of security crises in the nation’s capital, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Thursday threatened to shut down illegal motor parks across the territory.
The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, made this known during a chat with journalists in his office while reacting to the activities of ‘one-chance’ robbers in the capital city.
DAILY POST reports that there has been a series of reported cases of ‘one-chance’ robbery, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the territory.
The security situation has instilled fear in some residents as the criminal elements who disguise themselves as commercial vehicle operators to rob or kidnap unsuspecting victims continue their attacks.
Speaking on steps taken so far to address the security crisis, the minister said a joint task force on cross-border crimes was set up last week to tackle the security menace called ‘one-chance’ robbery.
“We’re getting a lot of reports about kidnappings here, about one-chance there,” Wike said.
“In most cases, we don’t even let the public know what has been done. I can tell you the security agencies have done quite a lot. If not, by now, the FCT would have been a different thing.
“One of the areas we identified is that the FCT is at the centre – we have Niger State, we have Kogi State, we have Nasarawa State, we have Kaduna State. And if you check these four states, these four states are states that experience banditry and kidnapping from time to time.
“And we discovered that most of the areas that they (criminals) stay are shanties and uncompleted buildings, and that is why we say we cannot allow these uncompleted buildings where criminals have made their place of abode.
“Bring down all these uncompleted buildings which have turned to shanties and they will have nowhere to hide.”
“Just last week, we set up a task force on those states that we have borders with and one-chance. Joint security task force including the SSS, the police, the army, the navy, and they have identified the way they will operate.
“To tell you that we are concerned. That is why we have to set up this joint task force for one-chance and border control.
“Again, you see a lot of illegal motor parks. When we come up with a policy that we can’t allow these illegal motor parks, people will come up to say the economy is hard, things are tough but nobody wants to look at it from the security implication.
“We are also planning to shut down some of these illegal motor parks.”
