FCT hawkers, beggars risk jail terms if caught – AEPB

The FCT Special Task Team on Abuja Environmental Protection, retired Sqn. Ldr. Abdullahi Monje, on Monday warned that street hawkers and beggars risk going to jail, if found guilty by the court.

Monjel gave the warning when he led members of the team on a “show of force” of its security personnel at Jabi and Wuse Districts of Abuja.

He said that the time for sensitisation for the beggars and street hawkers to leave the FCC had elapsed.

He noted that his team was going all out against offenders to completely remove them from the streets of Abuja.

“We have already given them the benefit of the doubt and now the time has elapsed. What is left now is to enforce the relevant municipal laws.

“Anybody we arrest will be taken to court and prosecuted accordingly.

“If somebody refuses to comply with the rules and regulations based on what we have said, then we will arrest the person accordingly.

“As a matter of fact, we don’t want hawkers and beggars within the city centre of Abuja. They should keep away from the streets of Abuja,’’ he said.

According to him, anybody that wishes to come out, we are ready for the person as we will take him/her to court where he will be prosecuted and taken to jail.

On the cleanup campaign it carried out on Friday, he said it was essentially to tell the public that the team was equal to the task.

He said the team would arrest whoever fails to comply with the directives as stipulated by the Abuja environmental laws.
Monjel said that the team has started sensitisation for operators of Keke Napep, unpainted taxis and motorcycles.

The chairman added that when their time expires, they too would be removed from Abuja streets and for the Keke Napep would be restricted to the very large estates.

“The phase two is Keke Napep; then unpainted taxis. However, we don’t want to start with unpainted taxis, Keke Napep riders now.

“We want to give adequate time for sensitisation, so that by the time we start impounding, nobody will say ‘I didn’t know’,” warned the Monjel.