Exactly one year and seven months after this writer did the exposè of the activities of the notorious scavengers popularly called ‘Baba Mbola’ across the six Council Areas of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) namely Abaji, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Kuje, Kwali and Gwagwalada, the situation has worsened as most of the Manhole Covers of the drainage system in FCT have been removed and carted away by unauthorised persons.
Recall Prompt News had reported on May 20, 2023, nine days to the end of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the start of the regime of incumbent President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023, that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and federal government should pay more than passing attention to the safeguard of critical infrastructure in Abuja because of the nefarious activities of miscreants and unpatriotic citizens, and maybe non-citizens of Nigeria, who have removed many iron covers of the manholes in Abuja.
Most hit then was AMAC which houses the seat of federal government and its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) offices including the Presidential Villa (State House), Supreme Court of Nigeria, National Assembly Complex, Federal Secretariat and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) among others.
This is even as the relevant security agencies and officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) responsible for keeping watch over the critical infrastructure in FCT were warned about the activities of “Baba Mbola” and asked to tackle open manholes menace in Abuja.
However, Prompt News investigations have revealed that nearly two years after the report, most manholes in FCT are still without the iron covers as miscreants have continued to remove and cart away the whole of the manhole covers across the city and satellite towns.
The theft of manhole iron covers by these scavengers have extended to the newly constructed inner roads and streets in the six Area Councils of FCT as a drive round Abuja showed that most of the manhole covers have been removed by “Baba Mbola”.
Areas affected are AYA junction through the 8-lane express road to Gudu Cemetery via Apo mechanic road; the new single lane road from Sunnyvale Estate junction to Kabusa village road and Galadiwa to Area 1 via Games Village within the metropolitan city.
Other areas where manhole covers have been removed by the thieves are Wuse District, Wuse 2, Garki District,
Apo District, Maitama, Asokoro, Katampe, Jabi, Life Camp, Utako, Lokogoma, Gwarimpa, Lugbe on Airport road.
Manhole covers have also been removed along the ever-busy Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway or Airport road, IBB Way, Yakubu Gowon Road, Moshood Abiola road, Augustus Aikhomu road, Okonjo–Iweala road and Kado fish market road.
Also, manhole covers have also been removed in the outskirts of FCT including Gwagwalada, Kuje, Zuba, Kubwa, Dei Dei, Bwari and many places in the Abuja where such infrastructure exists.
High level of vandalisation of public properties including the stealing of manhole covers in Abuja have continued unabated over the years despite the clarion call by the House of Representatives on the FCTA and FCDA to tackle open manholes menace in Abuja.
Infact, the House had in June 2022 also mandated the Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to ensure compliance and report back within six weeks for further legislative action.
This followed a motion under matters of urgent national importance raised by Hon. Musa Mohammed Pali, APC Bauchi, who lamented about the ugly trends of removal of manhole covers in Abuja, defining a manhole as “an opening used as an access point for an underground public utility, allowing inspection, maintenance and system upgrades.”
He regretted that manhole or maintenance hole which usually has a removable cover and an opening which is large enough for a person to pass through are been made death-traps.
Said he: “Manhole covers in the Federal Capital Territory are being stolen by unpatriotic individuals,
leaving the manholes open and posing a grave danger to unsuspecting motorists and pedestrians”.
He again worried that many people have sustained permanent injuries as a result of falling into open manholes while many vehicle tyres have been damaged as a result of running over the manholes.
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Indeed, the activities of scavengers and other unpatriotic individual is responsible for the theft of manhole covers that are not secured or locked.
It therefore means that if the federal government and FCT fail to monitor the illegal removal of manhole covers in Abuja, it will degenerate to the vandalisation of critical infrastructure including private and public properties in Abuja during this transition period.
Prompt News reports that key infrastructure like the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) Project embarked upon by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to stem the spate of insecurity across Abuja and the entire country was abandoned the APC-led federal government immediately his regime ended in 2015.
Vandals carted away the cameras, iron poles, solar panels that would supplied power to the CCTV just as all the huge money budgeted for the project went down the drains.
To stem the tide of this ugly incidents, the incumbent Minister of FCT, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, aside ordering the arrest of “Baba Mbola” in Abuja should go a step further by embarking on the installation of CCTV cameras at the strategic areas of FCT as obtained in many developing countries like ours.
If this clarion call is given adequate consideration as demanded, most of the crimes in FCT will be reduced drastically.
