…Set to Profile all Scrap Sellers
The Federal Capital Territory Administration ( FCTA) has said it is considering the option of charging arrested vandals of public infrastructure to court for attempted murder and economic sabotage.
This was part of the decisions reached during the Security meeting presided over by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike on Monday in Abuja.
The measure was said to be capable of discouraging the menace of vandalism of public infrastructure, especially manhole covers, owing to the fact that the exact laws do not have any stiff penalty for infrastructure vandals.
Commissioner of Police (CP), FCT, Olatunji Disu who briefed newsmen after the meeting, said that the damages being caused by the vandals are not just economic sabotage, but capable of causing death.
Disu also stated that the scrap business, otherwise known as Pantekas has been banned for two weeks, to enable security agencies to profile all the operators in Abuja.
He noted that the continued vandalism of public infrastructure, especially manhole covers has festered in Abuja, because the vandals, when arrested and taken to court, only get some strokes of the cane or a paltry sum of money as punishment.
Disu disclosed that a stiffer punishment was being considered following the renewed assault by these vandals and the resources that the government have been committing to the replacement of vandalized infrastructure.
CP said, “The activities of the vandals are enough to kill residents of the Federal Capital Territory because they remove all these manholes and while driving at night you may not know that they have been removed and are capable of causing death. So they will be charged for economic sabotage and even at times, if possible, attempted murder or murder.
“ At the same time, it has been decided that the activities of all Pantekas have been banned for two weeks. They have been banned for two weeks for us to profile them to be sure that only the legitimate operators will be working in Pantekas. So they will be banned for two weeks, in effect from tomorrow, and we are going to profile them.
“ Not only will they be charged to court, but they will also be charged to court for economic sabotage because we have noticed that whenever we charge them to court, the punishment given to them is so small that we noticed that we have been recycling these criminals.
“ Most of the time they get community service where they are flogged, they get 24 strokes of the cane. At times they get fined for 2,000, 5,000 Naira. So we noticed that we have been recycling these criminals”, he added.
