Hoodlums invade Zamfara NBTI building, destroy ‘property worth N1bn’

Suspected hoodlums have vandalised the building of the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) in Zamfara state.

NAN reports that the hoodlums took advantage of celebrations trailing the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the governorship election in the state.

Muhammad Jazuli, NBTI member in charge of north west, confirmed the incident at a briefing in Gusau, the capital, on Wednesday after inspecting the level of damage on the building.

He said properties and government investments “worth over one billion naira” were destroyed when the hoodlums invaded the facility.

“You know that the centre was established in 1999 by the federal government and all the government investment in this centre in the past 23 years worth over N1 billion have been vandalised by hoodlums,” he said.

“This is very unfortunate, this is something very terrible because not only government property was involved, even private property belonging to entrepreneurs that came to invest here were destroyed.

“Most of our entrepreneurs or investors secured loans from banks to procure the equipment. Even doors and windows of this office were removed, all our furniture and everything here was taken away. As you can see, we don’t have even a single chair in this centre, I cannot understand this madness.”

Jazuli said the level of damage was unfortunate considering the importance of the centre to the state.

He called on security agencies in the state to investigate the matter and ensure the masterminds are brought to book.

Jazuli further appealed to the state and federal governments to intervene and restore the centre’s capacity and functionality.