Nigeria emergency agency increases security around facilities after mobs raid Abuja warehouse

Security officials have been put on high alert at government food stores across Nigeria amid a biting economic situation in the West African country.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that it was increasing security “to forestall any breaches” at its offices and warehouses nationwide.

The need for the protection of warehouses gained attention after local residents broke into and looted food items, including bags of maize, at a facility on Sunday in Nigeria’s federal capital, Abuja.

Reports say the mob stole other useful items, such as barrier protectors.

The incident, which apparently lasted several hours, caused a traffic jam as people blocked roads around the area.

The ugly incident highlighted increased cases of attacks on warehouses to steal food items by mobs.

The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the incident saying that the situation had been brought under control.

“The situation is now under control,” she said.

This is not the first time that warehouses of strategic importance will be coming under attack.

Reports of similar looting at various warehouses in Lagos, Kaduna, Jos, Edo, and other parts of the country, all of which contained food items meant to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown regime on the less privileged in those areas.

Food supplies provided by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, including rice, spaghetti, instant noodles, garri, and other products, were found in large quantities, with the people running away what they claimed to be theirs in the first place.

Nigeria is dealing with high inflation, a currency crisis, and a high cost of living caused by the removal of subsidies on petrol, which has further worsened the situation across the country.

The downturn has taken a heavy toll on the socio-economic activities of the nation, despite the proposed transformations by the new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.