Hoodlums Turn FCT Public Toilets Into Shelters

Hoodlums have taken over public toilets located in areas where there are motor parks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), using the facilities as shelters at night.

When LEADERSHIP visited some of the public toilets at Area 1 round about, and Lugbe, close to car wash, it was observed that the belongings of the hoodlums in different bags were noticed within the facilities.

Some of them were also seen taking their clothes from their bags to dress up for the day’s hustling after taking their bath in the facilities.

A trader in one of the parks, who preferred to be addressed as Ms Gloria, explained that the hoodlums go out to hustle during the day and return in the night to sleep in the public toilets daily.

“Most of them use this place as their houses and they sleep on the floor. You know that the toilet entrance and passages have rugs. So, they sleep on the rugs at night. From the information we got, they give the people in charge of maintenance some money daily to take shelter in the facilities.

“The truth is that if you come here in the evening from 7.30 pm, you will be scared to go close to the public toilets, because of the kind of faces you will see going in and out of the toilets. It is not a good thing at all,” she said.

Also, a driver at Lugbe expressed concern at the development, saying that if it is not discouraged, people around the area would not be safe at night.

“The toilet is not conducive to use when it is getting dark, because that is when you see all these bad boys coming to spend the night. 

You will see them smoking all sorts of things at night. This is supposed to be a government facility for the public, but the essence is gradually becoming defeated,” he said.

The immediate past head of media and publicity of FCT Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Alhaji Sani Bala, who frowned at the development said he would reach out to his predecessor for them to put an end to the menace.