Abuja Recreation Centres, Others To Close At 10p.m.

Abuja City Gate

THESE are not the best of times for operators of recreation centres, parks and gardens, as well as other related entertainment spots in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), no thanks to the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which has been rampaging through some states in the North in recent times. While the operators have been given a 10p.m. deadline to close shop, henceforth, for fear of Boko Haram,
The FCT Administration gave the deadline to the business operators in a statement yesterday.


This, according to the administration, was necessitated by the need to ensure adequate security of lives and property in the territory, following the prevailing security concerns across the country.

The directive came barely one week after the Federal Government deployed men of the Nigerian Army to the FCT to mount road blocks and conduct stop and search on vehicles, following a suicide bomb attack on the Police Headquarters penultimate Thursday.

The FCTA warned against violation of the directive, noting that monitoring teams will be going round to ensure strict compliance.

Many recreational centres in the nation’s capital, before this directive, operated without time limit, but a statement issued in Abuja by the Chief Press Secretary to the FCTA, Muhammad Sule, directed owners of parks and garden, clubs and cinemas, as well as other entertainment spots, to close on or before 10p.m. or face the wrath of the law.

The statement reads in part: “The FCT Administration has announced the immediate review of administration of Parks and Garden, Cinema/Film Centres, Disco/Night Clubs and other recreational centres in the Federal Capital Territory.

“Henceforth, all operators of the above-mentioned venues of recreation have been directed to adhere to the following time limit for their operations: Parks and Garden that admit children are to close at 6p.m. Daily, including weekends; Cinema/Film Centres and Disco/Night Clubs are to close at 10p.m. daily, including weekends; and Beer Parlours/Drinking Joints and Pool Centres are to close at 10p.m. daily, including weekends.”
The statement further directed that the affected operators of parks and gardens, as well as other recreational centres, must put in place adequate security measures within their premises.

“The entrance and exit points into such premises must be properly manned,” it added.

The FCTA also gave a directive against street parking around the Federal Secretariat on Ahmadu Bello and Shehu Shagari ways respectively in the Central Business District (CBD), Abuja.

It, however, appealed to and urged motorists and other road users to make use of the designated parking lot around the area, noting that “any violator of this ban will be promptly arrested for prosecution with his vehicle impounded”.