FCTA bans, ups raids on scavengers

By Stanley Onyekwere

Seemingly worried by the increasing activities of scavengers, purportedly threatening lives and property in the nation’s capital city, the FCT Administration has imposed a ban on such activities within the Territory.
The Administration stated that their activities are henceforth restricted to government designated dump sites within the FCT namely, Gousa, Karshi, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Abaji and kuje respectively.
PeoplesDaily reports that the scavengers otherwise known as Baban Bolas toiling neighbourhoods, in search of variety of valuables kept in dust bins and wastes collection centres across Abuja, the nation’s capital city.
However, the FCTA warned that security agencies have been instructed to arrest and prosecute anyone found to be violating the directive, with effect from next week, precisely Thursday 10th of May, 2018.
This was disclosed in a press release signed and issued on behalf of the FCT Administration by the Secretary, Social Development Secretariat (SDS), Alh. Ladi Hassan, which was made available to the PeoplesDaily last week.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Federal Capital Territory Administration has been drawn to the activities of scavengers popularly known as Baban Bola who move from neighbourhood to another collecting waste objects from dust bins across the city of Abuja.
“It has been stated with concern that under the guise of scavenging from refuse bins in neighbourhoods across the city, the Baban Bola have been involved in many criminal activities from petty stealing to armed robbery, vandalism of public utilities and other forms of crime and criminality.
“It is the duty of the administration to protect and secure lives and property of all residents of the territory and in accordance with section 35 sub- section 1(i) of the AEPB Act of 1997, which prohibits the collecting, disposing of refuse without authorization.”