The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has reiterated its resolve to continue ongoing efforts to sanitise and revitalise Abuja city, assuring that measures to curb criminal activities are aimed at enhancing safety and maintaining the city’s orderliness despite recent media concerns.
The administration has assured the residents that the clearing of shanties and parks serving as hideouts for criminals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be a continuous exercise.
It could be recalled that men of the FCTA Development Control Department, Security Services, and Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) had embarked on clearance operations in some areas identified as major threats to the capital’s security and aesthetic standards.
The exercise, which involved removing illicit structures, impounding vehicles, and seizing weapons, is being followed up with a mop-up operation to ensure criminal elements do not return.
In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said that demolition of Jazz and Blues Entertainment at Panorama Recreational Park, Wuse Zone 3, was part of the clean-up exercise.
He said the operation was a targeted public safety intervention based on credible intelligence, and not an act of persecution against anyone.
“Security agencies, including the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Department of State Services (DSS), identified several locations and facilities that serve as criminal hideouts and safe havens across the Federal Capital City (FCC).
“The intelligence obtained and verified through several surveillance and undercover investigations of these locations, amongst which was the Jazz and Blues Entertainment at Panorama Recreational Park, Wuse Zone 3, was that a segment of the park containing shanties and batchers had evidence of sustained criminal activity tied to organised networks operating within the FCT.
“Thus, by Abuja’s Development Control Regulations and public safety protocols, the FCTA, with other security agencies commenced a city-wide cleanup exercise,” he stated.