…set to take delivery of 12 police divisional headquarters
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA — The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has warned residents who provide information to kidnappers and other criminals that they will face severe legal consequences.
Director of the Security Services Department of the FCTA, Mr Adamu Gwary, issued the warning on Wednesday during an inspection of newly completed Divisional Police Headquarters in Ushafa and Saburi.
Gwary said the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had directed security agencies to take firm action against criminal informants and collaborators.
“The minister did not mince his words in terms of issuing a stern warning to those informants that they will be treated like kidnappers,” he said.
He, however, urged residents to continue providing timely and credible intelligence to security agencies whenever they observe suspicious activities.
Gwary said reported cases of kidnapping and other serious crimes had reduced across the Federal Capital Territory since 2023, attributing the development to improved security equipment, expanded infrastructure and enforcement against criminal collaborators.
The Ushafa and Saburi police facilities, located in Bwari and Abuja Municipal Area Councils respectively, have been completed and are awaiting official handover, he said.
They are among 12 Divisional Police Headquarters being constructed across the six Area Councils, with two facilities allocated to each council, as part of efforts to eliminate security blind spots.
“Out of the 10 ongoing projects, almost all have achieved more than 90 per cent completion, following Wike’s directive for all contractors to wrap up work before the end of November,” Gwary said.
He said the projects were part of the FCTA’s broader security initiative aimed at extending crime-fighting infrastructure to satellite and rural communities.
According to him, each divisional headquarters has a ground floor equipped with a central counter and detention facilities, including separate cells for male and female suspects.
The upper floor has eight furnished administrative offices, including an office for the Divisional Police Officer, while a three-storey residential block provides six furnished two-bedroom en-suite flats for police personnel.
Gwary said the residential facilities were designed to ensure adequate personnel presence and faster response to security incidents.
He added that a technical team from the Public Building Department of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) would work with the contractor to verify the facilities against the Bill of Quantities before the handover.
He recalled that at the height of security challenges in 2023, Wike held town hall meetings across the six Area Councils and promised to decentralise security infrastructure from the city centre.
Gwary said the Ushafa station and another facility at Igbu, about 35 kilometres away near the FCT-Nasarawa border, would help secure satellite communities and strengthen the Territory’s borders against cross-border criminality and kidnapping networks.
Beyond physical infrastructure, he said the FCTA was increasing its monthly logistics support to security agencies and expanding technology-driven surveillance across the Territory.
He said the Airport-to-Villa corridor was already being monitored through technology managed from the Force Headquarters control room, adding that the surveillance network would be extended to other high-risk corridors.
“Aerial surveillance assets are being finalised for deployment to track criminal elements in rugged terrains,” Gwary said.
The Site Engineer for the Ushafa project, Mr Kabir Muhammed, commended Wike for entrusting his firm with the project and said the construction team worked closely with monitoring and evaluation teams to meet the delivery schedule.
Gwary expressed confidence that the new police infrastructure would strengthen security in satellite communities and enable residents to carry out their daily activities with greater security as the November completion deadline approaches.
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