SOME residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Sunday, March 3, raided a government’s warehouse and looted foodstuffs.
According to a Daily Trust report, residents looted bags of maize and grain at the warehouse located around Tasha community in the FCT.
One of the residents, Jaafar Aminu, who spoke with the newspaper said the looting continued without interruption until 9 am.
He said both residents and people from nearby Jiwa and Karmo communities gathered at the location with the intention of joining in the looting.
Although some reports suggested that the looted warehouse belongs to the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria (NEMA), the agency’s spokesperson, Manzo Ezekiel, in a text said the NEMA’s warehouse was intact.
“NEMA’s warehouse is intact. The looted facility does not belong to NEMA,” he wrote.
The spokesperson for the FCT Police command, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the incident in a text message to Daily Trust.
“The situation is now under control,” she stated.
Meanwhile, The ICIR’s efforts to confirm the details of the incident proved abortive as the police spokesperson failed to respond to calls and text messages from the organisation.
The ICIR reported that Nigerians, alongside the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had been protesting the worsening economic conditions in the country.
The protests, driven by growing frustrations over high cost of living, have drawn widespread reactions to the challenges faced by poor and ordinary citizens across the nation.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M