Some residents of a satellite town of Abuja on Sunday, invaded a warehouse owned by the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration, at Gwagwa and looted food items.
They also looted two private storage facilities at neighbouring Karmo, also within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), and carted away foodstuffs, roofing sheets and other items.
Witnesses told Daily Trust that youths in their number stormed the FCTA’s warehouse located around Tasha area of the Gwagwa community at about 7am and stole bags of grains.
A resident, Jaafar Aminu, said the looting went on unhindered till 9am.
He said some persons from neighbouring Jiwa and Karmo towns also rushed to the same warehouse to steal food items.
He said the situation caused a gridlock on the Gwagwa-Karmo road linking Dei-Dei and Jabi communities.
Another resident, Christopher Agbo, said apart from food items, steel fence sheets, doors and roofing sheets were also carted away from the government warehouse.
Some persons in the area said the grains looted might not be safe for human consumption as they appeared rotten.
It would be recalled that the warehouse was looted during the COVID-19 lockdown, with bags of grains as well as pumping machines meant for intervention stolen.
A resident of Karmo, Shehu Muhammad, told Daily Trust that the two stores looted at the community yesterday were owned by persons from Sabuwar-Unguwa and Rogo areas.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, said the police were able to control the situation.
Recently, civil society groups and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had led protests across states against the cost-of-living crisis in the country.
Some residents of Zaria, Kaduna State, had, on Friday, reportedly blocked a truck conveying foodstuffs and looted cartons of noodles.
On February 22, during a protest by fish vendors over rising food prices, hoodlums reportedly attacked a trailer load of foodstuffs at Suleja, Niger State.
NEMA beefs up security at own warehouses nationwide
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday clarified that its warehouse was not looted as suggested by some media reports earlier in the day.
Its spokesman, Manzo Ezekiel, in a statement, said the agency, however, sympathised with owners of the looted facilities.
“To forestall any security breach at NEMA facilities, the Director-General, Mustapha Habib Ahmed has directed zonal directors and heads of operations to strengthen security in and around the agency’s offices and warehouses nationwide,” he stated.
(Daily Trust)
