The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, says a security task force has arrested and prosecuted criminals disguised as scavengers and beggars, while destroying the city’s infrastructure.
Wike made the statement on Tuesday, following his inspection of the 5-kilometre Saburi-Dei Dei road in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT.
Recall that the Wike-led administration launched a crackdown on beggars, scavengers, and street vendors, with 34 individuals detained on Monday, the 29th of October across major areas in the FCT, including the City Centre, Airport Road, the Kubwa-Gwarinpa area, and the Asokoro-Nyanya-Karu corridor.
Speaking to journalists after the inspection, the minister noted that efforts to rid the city of the criminals and provide security were part of governance, as well as the provision of infrastructure and education.
“Provision of infrastructure and other things are all inclusive of governance. Providing security is also governance. Making sure that people have quality education is also governance. Being transparent is also part of good governance. So governance is inclusive of basic, good infrastructure, being transparent, education; all these we are doing as part of good governance.
“You can see that we have reduced the level of damage. Some of these scavengers have been arrested and prosecuted. We have a taskforce now that goes around in the night, comprising of all the security agencies, who are already cleaning the roads by making sure that some of these people who say that they are beggars, some of them are not actually beggars and at the end of the day they cause a lot of havoc,”he said.
On the level of work done on the Saburi-Dei Dei road, Wike said the contractors have assured him that it will be delivered by December.
“The contractor still insists that this road will be completed in December, except for the new bridge, which was not initially in the plan of work. During the raining season it was quite flooded, and so we had to turn it to a bridge, and they have said that to complete that bridge would take them two months. But for the road, they are insisting that it will be completed by this December”, the minister stated.
