By Daniel Tyokua
Officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has begun eviction of beggars and scavengers on Abuja streets.
This followed the directive given by the Minister of FCT Nyesom Wike on the need for relevant departments and agencies of the administration to curb insecurity by stopping beggars’ activities in the city centre.
At the commencement of the exercise on Monday, 15 beggars and 19 scavengers were arrested in the nation’s capital by the ministerial team.
The operations that had a combined forces of the Police, Military, DSS, NSCDC, and other paramilitary agencies were deployed in four groups to different locations of the city centre, in search of beggars and miscreants constituting nuisances.
FCT Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu who described the operation as “ a national assignment”, told the operatives along other heads of security agencies, that officers involved in the enforcement must be professional, but uncompromising in carrying out the exercise.
Disu noted that the operations would last for two weeks, after which the strategies would be reevaluated for further steps.
He, said “ this operation will last for the first two weeks. We will come back and assess our achievements, then we will go back if there is a need for us to continue it”.
Speaking on the operations, the Director, FCTA Security Services Department, Adamu Gwari said the step would be conducted day and night in order to achieve the desired results.
The Director who was represented by Dr Peter Olumuji, explained that the first day of the operations had four groups who were “ divided in 4 sectors. We have the metro, which is the city centre. We have the airport road that covers the entire airport road from city gates up to Bill Clinton road. We also have the Kubwa axis that covers the Kubwa, Gwarimpa up to Dei Dei. And we have the last group that covers Asokoro, AYA, Nyanya, Karu, Jikwoyi. All these will carry out the operation simultaneously.
“We realized that most of them are actually heard the voice of the minister. Notwithstanding, we have one or two that are still trying to test the water and we have been able to apprehend them. We also have 15 beggars and 19 scavengers that we have picked up in various sectors and we are still counting”, he added.
On his part, the Head of Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board ( AEBP) Kaka Bello said the operations is not just about beggars, but sanitizing the city of every nuisance.
Bello noted that roadside traders and all technicians who operate at all illegal places would be touched and evacuated during this Ministerial Operations in Abuja.
On what becomes the fate of the arrested beggars, the Director Social Welfare, FCTA, Dr. Sani Rabe, said they would be taken to government’s rehabilitation center located at Kuchikon, Bwari Area council, where they would be properly profiled.
According to him, those who are trainable would be given the opportunity to learn some skills for personal empowerment, while those who are not willing to acquire skills would be repatriated to their states of origin.
