The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Mabushi, Abuja, has been shut off by authorities of the Federal Capital Territory.
The operation, which is part of the effort to recoup about N10 billion owed to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, also impacted the popular Murg plaza, which is located just across the street from the UTC Market, Area 10, Garki, Merit House, and the Federal Character Commission, among other places.
The exercise was performed by heavily armed security officers selected from the police, Civil Defense Corps, and other agencies early Tuesday morning.
The Director of the AEPB, Engineer Osilama Braimah, who doubles as Chairman of the Special Debt Taskforce, in company of the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement, Comrade Ikharo Attah, monitored the exercise.
Braimah said government Ministries, Departments and Agencies were owing to the tune of 10 billion Naira and this, he said, was not acceptable.
He, however, said that certain ministries were frantically attempting to pay, while others were displaying signals of unwillingness to pay.
“The board got court orders to seal the premises,” he said.
According to him, the process, which has only recently begun, will encompass all public and private offices owed to the board.
The defendants had been served with summons to appear before a senior magistrate court in Wuse II, Abuja, on March 30th, 2022, but they failed to appear.
“The debtors include: Federal Ministry of Works – N9,998,625.00; Federal Ministry of Defence – N17,220,775.00; Federal Character Commission – N10,128,906.25; Civil service Commission – 2,451,649.50; and Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission – 21,683,750.00.
“Others are Federal Ministry of Health – N14,204,843.75; Federal Ministry of Trade & Investment – N19,222,287.50; Federal Ministry of Education Hqtrs – N25,838,275 ; and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Wuse – N16,583,031.25”, he stressed.
Meanwhile, residents have complained bitterly about the practice of open defecation in the Mabushi Interchange, attributing it to poor city and development planning.
According to them, to address the urban issues associated with population growth, rural-urban migration, and random settlements, measures must be put in place towards ridding urban settlements of societal anomalies to avoid environmental disasters.
