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16 people have been taken into custody by the Federal Capital Region Administration (FCTA) for damaging streetlights inside the Federal Capital Territory.
Chief Felix Obuah, the coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), revealed this during a press conference in Abuja.
He stated that the latest arrests came after a crackdown on vandals in the area.
He said that over 16 people had been taken into custody in the previous week and that five had been taken into custody on Thursday alone, while two more had escaped.
Obuah said that “security is everyone’s responsibility”, underscoring the need for media cooperation and public awareness. “Today’s arrests were made possible with the assistance of local hunters and vigilante squads.”
He issued a warning that anyone or any organisation found to be dealing in or damaging government property would be subject to legal action.
Despite the anti-theft mechanisms in place, Aderemi Rashid, the contractor in charge of the solar light installations, had claimed that some equipment had been taken.
“The gear utilised indicates a degree of expertise beyond typical miscreants”, he said.
Additionally, Obuah said that the foreign contractor who had been previously detained for vandalism had been turned over to the police for additional investigation.
He vowed to keep up the operations until the city was free of vandals and accused the contractor of causing infrastructure damage as a ruse to obtain future repair contracts.