FCTA Arrests 47 Roadside POS Agents

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

 The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has arrested 47 Point of Sale (POS) agents for rending their service on the streets and in unapproved places within the city.

The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, said the violators would be arraigned before the Mobile Court for allegedly infringing on some environmental laws and for operating their businesses in unapproved places.

The FCTA recently stated that because of security concern, it would no longer condone indiscriminate activities of POS operators on the streets and non-commercial areas of the Federal Capital City.

It said intelligence indicated that strange people were roaming about some neighbourhoods, while disguised as POS operators.

Attah, who addressed the violators at the premises of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), said although the FCT Minister had no intention to stop POS business, he was concerned about the security implication of allowing them to operate outside commercial zones and indiscriminately in the streets.

Also, the Assistant Director, Enforcement at AEPB, Kaka Bello, noted that environmental laws forbid business activities at residential areas and on the streets.

He said AEPB enforcement team was prepared to give effect to the restrictions on the POS operations.

 One of the arrested violators, Solomon Wari, a civil servant, said he was arrested while he was in the front of his business centre within a residential area in Wuse Zone 6, adding that he was in the business to support his family.