Community Decries Influx of Miscreants into FCT Tourism Sites
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Leaders of Mpape community has decried the return of miscreants and suspected criminals to the crush rock spring water tourism site few months after they were dislodged by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Task Force on enforcement.
The rocky location prone to seismic stress is a man-made tourism site that has been attracting visitors in droves with potential to generate large revenue annually.
They made the outcry yesterday when Mpape Paramount Ruler, Chief Musa Ahmadu, had an audience with the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, requesting the FCTA to send bulldozers to the site.
They lamented that the joy of a serene environment devoid of street urchins and traffic gridlock that followed the last massive clean-up exercise in the area had been short-lived with a spike in criminal activities.
Ahmadu expressed dismay that all the places where the Taskforce dislodged the illegal occupants had been fully rebuilt against their wish.
He also fumed that the miscreants had even deepened their criminal activities at the tourism sites and were deterring potential tourists from visiting the area.
The paramount ruler called on the FCTA to mobilise its taskforce to the community and remove the illegal market extension and all the shacks providing cover for the criminals around the tourism sites.
In his remarks, Attah said it was unfortunate that few people had continued to force the government to waste scarce resources on demolishing illegal structures.
He added that FCT Administration had expected that all residents would have heeded the warnings and stopped promoting illegalities as a way of helping the government save resources for better development.
He promised that the bulldozers would soon return to Mpape community to sustain the clean-up exercise.
Attah also warned the miscreants and all the residents rebuilding the demolished illegal structures with disregard for extant laws to desist from such as the next clean-up exercise in the area will be unsparing if the government is forced to mobilise the task force on enforcement.
