Reports indicate that the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council has arrested a popular expatriate contractor caught vandalizing streetlights in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This incident was reported on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, during an inspection of streetlights for repair and maintenance.

The AMMC Coordinator, Felix Obuah, stated that the contractor confessed to destroying the streetlights to secure contracts from the government.

Although the name of the foreign national was not disclosed, Obuah mentioned that the contractor was well-known. He pointed out that the contractor would face legal action.

Obuah said, “The minister of FCT has given us matching orders to make sure that Abuja is lightened up, and as a matter of fact, I embark on the spot assessment with my team to make sure things work well.

“Abuja is divided into 21 lots; today we inspected almost 18 lots. We have discovered that most of those areas have been vandalised, and some are undergoing intervention work by my team.

“We are not impressed with the level of vandalisation that had happened in some of those lots. But I am impressed with my team for living up to expectations, especially with the ongoing maintenance work on Yar’adua Way and Jabi areas. The light has been restored, but some are yet to be restored.

“We will make sure that within a short possible time, the issues are restored. Most of the time we thought it was scavengers or miscreants that were involved in vandalising the streetlights; it was not until today that we were able to discover that high level contractors were involved in sabotaging the good efforts of the minister and AMMC.

“We have arrested a very prominent contractor, an expatriate who is involved in vandalising these streetlights to enable them to get this contract. One of the expatriates has been arrested and is in detention; there is full evidence to that effect.

“Our report will be submitted to the minister. We must make sure that those vandals and the people buying the items do not go free.

“We can’t be buying and installing while miscreants and expatriates are vandalising it; sabotaging the good efforts of government is wrong.”