The amalgamated union of fairly used items, also known as scrap materials in the Federal Capital Territory, has listed the internal mechanisms put in place to check the excesses of its members that might want to contradict the laid down procedures by the FCT Administration.

One of the mechanisms the union said it has adopted is to sanction any of the markets found operating without due registration as agreed with the FCT Administration before the ban on them was lifted recently.

The scrap dealers, also distanced themselves from scavengers operating in the territory.

Abuja Metro reports that the FCT administration had shut down all scrap markets, also known as panteka, in the territory for about five weeks, following an allegation linking them with infrastructure vandalism in the territory.

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who approved the ban at the FCT security meeting, lifted it after the major markets were profiled and registered with relevant security agencies.

Speaking on their operations, the chairman of the scrap traders in the FCT, Abbas Bello, said the decision to sanction was a self-monitoring approach to comply with government’s directives on their operations.

He said the union was also currently registering all its members operating in Abuja using the guidelines provided by the FCT Administration.

He said before lifting the ban, all the chairmen, vice chairmen and secretaries of the union at different markets were profiled by the police using their national identity cards, as well as guarantors that must be imams, pastors or traditional rulers.

Bello informed that a taskforce would be inaugurated during the week with a mandate to visit all the communities in the FCT and fish out unregistered markets selling scraps.

He said, “There are such markets that operate in the rural communities that may not be necessarily known to us. Our task force will visit such facilities for immediate verification.’’

The chairman of the association also emphasized that efforts were ongoing to get lands designated for scrap markets in each of the six area councils, while those that have been allocated would be developed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The union distanced itself from scavengers, warning that any of its markets dealing with questionable items from them would be dealt with accordingly.

“We usually buy our items from genuine sources such as public or private auction, a property penciled for demolition, as well as engaging artisans to produce new items for us.

He said, ‘’Following the recent development in the FCT that saw a clamp down on scavengers, some of them approached us, requesting to be accommodated by our group.

‘’However, we rejected the idea. We advised them to register their association separately.’’