FOR effective protection of lives and property in the entire 8,000 square kilometres of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Security Committee has resolved to strengthen the existing synergy between the security agencies and the various communities in the territory.
The committee has resolved to work with the various communities to build a viable vigilante network in the rural communities, especially those prone to incidences of kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism among others.
The FCT minister and chairman of the FCT Security Committee, Milam Muhammad Bello, represented at the meeting by the Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani-Aliyu, who disclosed this after the meeting, said community policing initiative of the Federal Government will be fully encouraged and supported in the FCT.
He said the FCT Security Committee at its meeting also fine-tuned arrangements for the official launching of the resuscitated G-7 Security Joint Operation in September 2022, involving states that are contiguous to the FCT.
The resuscitation of the G-7 Joint Security Operation is expected to fight crime and criminality in all the nooks and crannies of the member states, especially the rising cases of kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism in the rural areas of FCT and states bordering the FCT.
He said the support the administration has extended to the security agencies is yielding fruitful results as the crime rate in the territory has considerably dropped in the last one month.
According to the statement issued on Friday by the Director, Information & Communication, FCT, Muhammad Sule, the minister said: “The Security Agencies in the FCT have up their game. People who have no business being here are being sent away. Some of them come under different guises, such as begging, street trading among others. They usually come from neighbouring states and are causing security breaches here. That is why we have decided to send them out”.
FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Sunday Babaji, acknowledged the support of the FCT Administration to security agencies to enable them tackle criminal activities.
Babaji attributed the drop in the crime rate in the FCT to constant raids of the flash points. He said with the deployment of additional 89 newly recruited Police constables to the FCT, the Command is poised to go after criminals in their hideouts.