FCTA Identifies Abuja Councils Worst Hit By Kidnapping

• Ready to review, strengthen the security framework
• Royal Fathers get marching orders on code of conduct
• Says weak legal system aiding criminals, lawbreakers

BY EVELYN DADU – The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is worried that the three area Councils of Abaji, Bwari, and Kuje have suddenly become the areas worst hit by kidnapping activities within the nation’s capital.

According to the Director of Administration and Finance, FCTA Security Services Department, Ebele Molokwu, major kidnapping incidents in the territory were recorded in these three councils with some isolated cases witnessed in the other Council areas in recent times.

Speaking during the end-of-the-year media briefing on the activities of the department, Molokwu said the unfortunate development is further heightened by the fact that the affected Council areas share the same borders with some states notorious for kidnapping, noting that the bandits would always sneak into the FCT to cause havoc and then escape back to their hideouts in those surrounding states.

However, she said the FCTA is fully focused on checking both kidnapping and one-chance syndicates in the territory, assuring that the current administration would spare no efforts to ensure the safety of lives and property in the nation’s capital.

Also commenting on the security situation in the territory, Director of the Department of Security Service, FCTA, Adamu Gwary, said the security committee now has two components, the kinetic, comprising core security agencies, and the non-kinetic which involves the traditional rulers and other relevant stakeholders.

He said in the restructured security committee, the FCTA has coopted the traditional rulers into the non-kinetic approach, where the District Heads regularly meet with the Village Heads and ultimately convey decisions reached with the graded chiefs through the Ona of Abaji.

Gwary also explained that in the planned review of Abuja’s security architecture, the G-7 security initiative would be revived and expanded with an increased number of security informants that would include artisans and farmers, among others, adding that deploying informants and vigilante groups for information and intelligence gathering was part of the community policing of the FCT Administration.

On measures in place to make the capital city safe and secure, the Security director said the FCTA has banned begging and hawking within the Secretariat, even as he also said plans have been concluded to float an effective transportation system to tackle the menace of one-chance operators in the territory.

The Security director, while blaming the weak legal structures for adversely affecting the adjudication and punishment of lawbreakers and criminals in the FCT, assured thus; “We are working assiduously behind the scenes to maintain security in the nation’s capital, including keeping peace between herders and farmers. We are also working with relevant agencies to prevent the vandalisation of public utilities”.

Further disclosing that the FCTA has completed the installation of CCTV cameras around its Secretariat in phase I of the programme, Gwary explained that phase II would involve installation in strategic areas of the city and urged residents to be security-conscious and always report suspicious happenings to nearby police stations.

Also tasking traditional leaders with strict adherence to the code of conduct guiding the institutions, Gwary hinted that a Traditional Chief was arrested for his involvement in kidnapping activities, adding that the said Chief has already been stripped of his title and handed over to the Police for prosecution.