The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has decried the incessant vandalism and theft of gully inlets, manhole covers and other facilities put in place to tackle flooding within Abuja.

The permanent secretary, FCTA, Olusade Adesola, said this in Abuja when he visited some of the facilities on Saturday.

Mr Adesola lamented that most of the expensive gully inlet and manhole covers recently replaced by the FCTA have been vandalised and carted away by suspected hoodlums.

He said the trend had minimised the performance of the drainage systems, thereby contributing to flooding in the city.

“Earlier in the week, we visited the flood sites at Lokogoma and Trademore, amongst others. The destruction caused by the flood in those areas was really touching,” he said.

Describing flood mitigation as a collective responsibility, the permanent secretary called for the support of residents and security agencies to address the ugly trend.

“The manhole covers that were replaced have been removed. They were not removed by ghosts.

“They were removed by people, and this is Federal Capital City where we have all the law enforcement agencies,” Mr Adesola said.

Regarding the cost implication of replacing the stolen items, the permanent secretary said each gully inlet costs N500,000.

Mr Adesola said the authority had provided between 20 and 30 floodwater covers and one to three manhole covers within a kilometre.

“Now, if you multiply this by 20 kilometres, 80 kilometres, or 200 kilometres, you know what this will translate to.

Mr Adesola also cautioned members of the public against indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, stressing that gully inlets should not be used as dumpsites.

The permanent secretary was accompanied on the visit by some senior officials of relevant Departments and Agencies in the FCTA. 

(NAN)