FCT Abuja, Nigeria – As economic hardship continues to grip the nation, residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, took matters into their own hands, descending on a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) warehouse in a desperate search for essential supplies.

A large crowd gathered outside the NEMA warehouse located in Abuja. With frustrations boiling over due to rising prices and scarcity of basic goods, the crowd eventually breached the warehouse gates, leading to a chaotic scene of looting.

Witnesses reported seeing men, women, and even children carrying away bags of rice, cartons of noodles, and other food items. Some were seen struggling under the weight of their loot, while others frantically grabbed whatever they could find.

Former lawmaker and social critic, Senator Shehu Sani, has reacted to the alleged looting of a warehouse belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria, NEMA, by some residents of the Federal Capital Terrritory, FCT.

According to Sani, the development is a dangerous symptom of an impending revolution.

DAILY POST reported some residents of the FCT had looted a warehouse belonging to the NEMA amid the current economic hardship across the country.

It was gathered that the residents carted away foodstuffs and other items.

“Masses looting foodstuffs from a Government Warehouse in our oil rich Nigeria is a dangerous symptom of an impending revolution that must be averted or contained,” he wrote on his X handle on Sunday.

Recall that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, had said that stalled per-capita growth, poverty and high food insecurity have exacerbated the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria.

The report emerged amid rising inflation, exchange rate crisis, weak economic growth and business shutdowns.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye has urged state governors and senior civil servants to give President Bola Tinubu maximum support as he tries to fix Nigeria’s economy.

Oyintiloye said that it is not possible for the president alone to achieve his Renewed Hope Agenda for the people without the support of the governors and top civil servants, who were the engine room of the government.

He said this while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo.

Oyintiloye said that the governors needed to support the various initiatives of the president in fixing the economy by utilising their monthly allocation for poverty alleviation in their various states.

The APC Chieftain said that the various efforts of the president in fixing the economy may not be immediately visible to many Nigerians, if the state governors refused to utilise their monthly allocation for the benefit of the masses in their states.

He said: “This is the time for state governors, irrespective of political affiliations to join the president in fixing the economy by attending to the welfare of the people.

“What the president is doing at the centre to fix the economy will only be meaningful to the people, if the state governors can lend a helping hands.

“What the governors are currently collecting as monthly allocation is more than in enough to lift the people out of poverty in relation to what the president is doing.

“While the masses are shouting the name of the president at every slight discomfort, they should also hold their governors accountable, asking them what they are doing with the improved monthly allocation.

To set the record straight, the governors have to come out and tell people of their states the amount they have collected since June last year and how they have administered the funds.

“In the reckoning of most Nigerians now, the governors are seen as part of those sabotaging efforts of the president to lessen effects of the removal of fuel subsidy on the people.

“We are in a very critical situation in which unnecessary bureaucracy which can hinder the efforts of the president be suspended.

“Any act of sabotage in whatever form in the civil service should be rooted out for the sake of the benefit of the masses.”

Oyintiloye, however, urged Nigerians to be patient with the president, adding that with all the various interventions the president is putting in place, the country will soon attain the height of desired greatness.

••• AS TSSL CHAIRMAN RESTATES DETERMINATION TO FIGHT OIL THEFT

The Nigeria Union of Journalists has conferred its Internal Security Meritorious Award on the Chairman of Tantita Security Services, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo.

The national President of the NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo, said that the award was in recognition of the sterling contribution of Tompolo and his firm, TSSL, to the critical campaign against crude oil theft in the country.

Recently, Tantita Security Services Limited working alongside the Navy, the Police, the NSCDC, and others has, intensified the campaign against the theft of the nation’s oil resources arresting and ensuring the forfeiture of vessels used in committing the crime.

Isiguzo led the national leadership of the NUJ to confer the award on Tompolo in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State on Saturday.

He stressed that the country would have been in some trouble without the patriotic efforts of Tompolo.

Isiguzo said that this was the first time the NUJ in its history would be conveying the Internal Security Meritorious Award of the union on anybody.

The NUJ leader explained further that the Internal Security Meritorious Award was the only award approved during its National Security Conference in Abuja and it was given to Tompolo.

He said, “Somebody has risen to the occasion and gathered an array of young men who have taken it upon themselves to help this country continue to survive as a peaceful nation, united and continuing to fend for its people.

“And that is the man that has, to a very large extent, substantially, helped us address the issue of crude oil theft.

“That is one thing that has occupied our national life over time. By his commitment, dedication and diligence, Nigeria, as a country, has to a very large extent, reduced the activities of men of the underworld who have consistently engaged in pilfering, taking our common patrimony for their personal gains.

“The NUJ, having assessed the activities of TSSNL, has decided that we must accord the necessary recognition to the man who carries the flag, birthed this security organization, who has exceptionally distinguished himself.

“The NUJ has come to the Oporoza Community in Gbaramatu Kingdom to honour a distinguished son of the Niger Delta; a general in his own right who has distinguished himself, ensures and maintains an appreciable level of internal security.

“We have come to confer on him, the Internal Security Meritorious Award of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

“In the course of the national security conference, held in Abuja, only one award had been approved and it is conferred on Dr. Government Ekpemupolo.

“I’m also excited that I’m doing this after 61 years of the existence of the NUJ, this award is coming up at this time.

“It is not just an honour to Tompolo but also an honour to me too. It is an honour to all of us and what that means is that the issue of insecurity is not just the responsibility of government but of every Nigerian.

“When you provide information, and intelligence to security operatives and agencies, you have contributed in some measures to reducing the problem of insecurity in the land.

“So, it is a collective responsibility, and all hands must be on deck to ensure we address our problems.

“If Nigeria is peaceful, every part of the country, including your household, will be peaceful and that will give birth to development and progress.

He recalled that the Union’s National Security Conference meant to examine the worsening security situation in the country was attended by former Inspector General of Police, and Chairman Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase, the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and a diverse segment of Nigerians.

Isiguzo said that a position paper of the conference on the issue of security will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu.

In his reaction, the Chairman of Tantita Security Services Limited, Chief Government Ekpemupolo restated his promise to end the criminal theft of the nation’s crude oil resources in the Niger Delta region.

He stressed that the country was in serious need of concerted support to stop the activities of those sabotaging the economy for personal gains.

The NUJ President had in his entourage, the National Secretary of NUJ, Shuaibu Leman and Delta state NUJ Chairman, Churchill Oyowe and others.