The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • Garbage compounds councils’ woes

    Garbage compounds councils’ woes

    Local councils have an unenviable profile: no good roads, no water, no electricity. Now, uncleared garbade threatens, GBENGA OMOKUNU reports

    Council Areas in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) now have something new to lament: garbage.

    Filth never quite disappeared, though, but the Muhammad Bello administration sought to give the nation’s seat of power a new, healthy outlook. The minister reintroduced the monthly sanitation exercise. A few months ago, all six council areas cleaned up their streets and drainage. But the gutters and roads are filling up again, some to overflowing.

    This is the picture in some places in Kuje, Abaji and some other area councils. It is a challenge residents must add to such others as poor roads, lack of water and woeful power supply, among others.

    When Malam Bello re-introduced the monthly exercise, many residents doubted its effectiveness. Some termed it another government project that was bound to fail. Some also saw it as a waste of time and resources but some others thought that something good might come out of it, only if certain things were put in place.

    Many of the residents who spoke with Abuja Review stated that each area council in the FCT needed to embark on sensitisation of the residents as the exercise would be fruitless without the participation of the residents.

    “I never knew about the sanitation exercise until someone told me about it. I know many other FCT residents do not know what it is about. So there should be urgent need for sensitisation of the people,” Ibrahim Onah, a resident of Kuje said.

    While some of them stated that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise was welcome, they emphasised the need for strict enforcement of environmental laws to achieve the desired result.

    They blamed the current sanitation challenges facing the territory on ignorance on the part of some residents and the failure of the area councils to live up to expectation.

    A resident of Kuje, James Abadi while using Kuje as example stated that the woeful waste situation in Kuje followed the failure of the area council to enforce environmental laws.

    Abadi stated that the re-introduction of the monthly sanitation exercise was a step in the right direction but added that there was need for regular monitoring by officials.

    He said, “I think the most important thing to do to achieve the desired cleanliness in Kuje and other area councils is for the council to embark on aggressive sensitisation.

    People need to be sensitised on the dangers of a dirty environment. It is funny but some people do not know that there are health implications of a dirty environment. I think that the area councils are not doing anything to get the people informed.

    “With the re-introduction of the sanitation exercise, we can see that the minister has shown commitment to promote sanitation in FCT, health officials in the various councils and FCTA must live up to expectations to enlighten the people,” he said.

    A resident of Gwagwalada, John Chitta, while agreeing to the sensitisation of the residents, also blamed the dirtiness in the territory on failure to regularly evacuate refuse dumps by the councils.

    “I can remember that there was a time that all the roads in Gwagwalada were littered with refuse. I don’t know what really happened then but it wasn’t a good experience. Even now, regular evacuation of refuse is still not being done,” he said.

    He stated that over the years, the council had continuously failed the people but called for policies that would bring about a regular evacuation of refuse in the area, adding that such measures will definitely restore the confidence of residents in the council.

    Chitta who stated that sanitation was a collective thing, added that if residents would work hard, ensuring that refuse from their homes were gathered at the various points, it was left for the council administration to do their part and complement the residents’ effort.

    “We are all in support of the exercise. The minister started on a good note and we pray it will continue that way because we have seen situations in Gwagwalada where refuse dump had almost cover the entire road without evacuation. We pray as this exercise continues, we will not experience that again. But see what is happening now everywhere is dirty again,” he said.

    For Amina Ibrahim, a resident of Kubwa, Bwari area council, if the area councils are to be sincere in the implementation of the newly launched monthly sanitation exercise, dirty environment in the FCT will become a thing of the past.

    “There are so many things the councils should do. We cannot talk about sanitation without provision for evacuation from the various points. This issue is an important issue and should be a daily affairs or weekly affairs. If it is left to pile up, it is another problem,” she said.

    Ibrahim also called on the area councils’ administration to bring out designated refuse dumps where there are none, while urging them to designate protected places as refuse dumps so as not to affect the health of people living around that particular area.

    While expressing hope that residents of the territory would be ready to pay their bills if the evacuation was regular and consistent, Ibrahim stated that the past experiences by the residents as pertaining evacuation has made them uncooperative.

    He advocated for a change of attitude on the part of residents adding that the act of dumping refuse in drainage system during rains was a major cause of flooding in the area.

    A resident of Dutse Alhaji in Bwari area council, Gabriel Isah also agreed that the sanitation exercise cannot be successful without the residents’ cooperation and called on FCT residents to have an attitudinal change and ensure that they take advantage of the various designated dumping points across the councils.

    “We need an attitudinal change in keeping our environment clean. We have been talking about change; change is not all about government alone. Change is also about each and every one of us as individuals. If we do not take sanitation as our collective responsibility, then there will be a problem.

    “We cannot continue to wait for government. We have to do our own part because when there is any outbreak of any disease in our area, it affects us. We have to wake up and cannot wait for government to do everything for us.

    “We must keep our surrounding clean to guard against infections before calling for assistance from government.

    “We also wait on the area councils to bring back health officials as was done in the past to inspect houses and ensure that defaulters are prosecuted.”

     

  • ‘Workers’ low-income houses coming’

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration is about going into partnership with the Federal Mortgage Bank to develop low-income houses for low-income workers in the Federal Capital Territory, the minister Malam Muhammad Bello has said.

    He gave the assurance while receiving a delegation of the Federal Mortgage Bank led by its Acting Managing Director, Mr. Richard Esien who paid him a working visit.

    Bello, however, made a case for the consideration of FCT Administration workers first, observing that the administration has the highest number of employees in the FCT.

    According to the statement issued by Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister said that there are so many big houses built in Abuja that are unoccupied because of the exorbitant rent charged by landlords.

    He said, “What we need today in Abuja are low income houses which low income earners can afford and that is what my administration would further encourage to take care of the less privileged people in the society”.

    The Minister emphasized that his Administration is prepared to enhance the relationship between the FCT Administration and the Federal Mortgage Bank for the mutual benefit of the two organizations; therefore the staff of the FCT Administration will have to be considered first.

    “We have too many highbrow houses in Abuja which have remained vacant despite the housing deficit the workers are experiencing in the city,” he stressed.

    While decrying a situation where estates were built in the past without provision of recreational facilities, children play ground as well as conversion of green areas to build houses; he directed that henceforth, all new estates must make provision for such essential facilities.

    The minister also directed that a green area be made available for the Federal Mortgage Bank to develop into a befitting Public Park for usage at weekends by the residents free of charge; adding that such gesture should be the Bank’s corporate social responsibility to the immediate society it is operating in.

    Speaking earlier, the Acting Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank, Mr. Richard Esien sought for plots of land to deliver houses to Nigerians in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate of 5,000 houses yearly.

    He noted that it is only Bwari Area Council out of the six Area Councils in the FCT that has complied with the FMBN Act of contributing two and half percent of all workers earning and therefore appealed to the Minister to prevail on the remaining five Area Councils to make their contributions according to the law.

  • Medicare for the displaced

    Medicare for the displaced

    A radio personality inspires a medical outreach in displaced persons’ camps, reports  GRACE OBIKE 

    Quite a curious relationship exists between internally displaced persons in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the authorities. There are more than six of their camps there but the territory’s administration recognises none of them.

    That is not to say the administrators do not help, but such help comes in trickles, never clearly defined, almost an afterthought.

    So how do the displaced in the FCT get by? Mostly through private outreaches. This time a radio personality is their benefactor.

    They live in shacks made of polythene, sacks and cartons or in uncompleted buildings without toilets, windows or doors, even under the most severe weather conditions.

    Although several residents of Abuja have made it their mission to cater to their basic needs of food, clothing and in some cases educational and medical needs, their living condition often makes them ill without cash to buy medicine.

    Secretary of the Kuchigoro camp Enoch Yohanna explained that 50% of the camp population is suffering from malaria and most of their pregnant women do not go for antenatal because the primary health care centre in old Kuchigoro that they are suppose to make use of often goes on strike which makes it difficult to know when they work.

    “We appreciate all the other assistance that we get, like food and clothing but this free medical mission is one of what we need the most, they are saving our lives with this opportunity because we have been suffering, there is presently no medical centre created to cater for the needs of the IDPs here, presently almost 50% of our population is having malaria, I just recovered from it. They are just complaining, you can go round and you will see them just sleeping.

    “They are also using the opportunity to see our pregnant women for their antenatal care because most of them don’t have the opportunity to go for antenatal because they are supposed to be going to a primary health care centre at the old Kuchigoro but I think they go on strike oftentimes so we mostly don’t know when they are working.”

    Abuja broadcaster Grace Epko popularly known as Lady G with Wazobia FM called for help on air and her listeners responded. Aids flooded the camps.

    “I got to know about the state of the camps from individuals who visited and saw the detoriating state of the camps, the living conditions and I decided to pay a visit to the camp. I mentioned my intentions on air and the people from the When in Need Foundation (WINfound) called and offered to partner with me.

    “We came to Kuchigoro camp and what we saw was not really pleasant, so I went on air and began campaigning for support and people have been awesome, people came from all over the city to drop their contributions with us, which is really wonderful especially with the present economic downturn.”

    President/ CEO of WINFound Chetachi Ecton explained that she and her team of volunteers decided to partner with Lady G on a medical mission around the camps in Abuja to help the IDPs in an area they believe that their help is really needed.

    “When I saw pictures of the condition of the camps, I cried because I couldn’t understand why these individuals after so many years are still living in cardboard boxes; the water in some of the camps is so dirty, the children are fed near the gutter which we all know could be infected with anything, so I decided to do a medical mission, I said because of the dirty water around and the mosquitoes, I wonder how many people have suffered malaria so far, how many people have died of malaria.

    “But not just malaria, what about the pregnant women here, how are they taken care of, the men, how are they taken care of? So I decided to expand the medical mission to include everyone, the idea was to come for children alone for malaria testing but we can’t do the children and forget their parents so we decided to treat malaria, high blood pressure and as much as we can do in a day.

    “We have five or six doctors, nurses, lab technicians as soon as they heard what we where doing, they where volunteering to come. We have done other things in several states in the country.

    “Our foundation is global, whatever you see here has been done global, my team and I will decide when and how often to come back for medical missions and maybe when I return to the US, I will be lucky to find some colleagues that will donate their time to come back to help, this is going to be a continuous effort for us with the IDPs because they need us.”

     

  • New council chiefs promise not not to disappoint

    The chairmen-elect have promised indigenes and residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that they will not  disappoint the electorate who voted for them to pilot the affairs of the six area councils.

    They said they will ensure that they benefit from the dividends of democracy.

    The chairman-elect of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdullahi Adamu Candido made this promise on behalf of the elected chairmen at the presentation of certificates of return to the elected officers by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The elected chairmen also vowed ensure that they stand out as the best crop of elected chairmen in the history of the territory, while delivering the dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots.

    INEC presented certificates of return to 62 councillors and six area council chairmen elected at the just concluded elections in the FCT.

    The FCT-INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Jacob Jatau stated that he was delighted to see that the council elections were conducted peacefully.

    He said it was not the intention of the commission to conduct the supplementary elections, but was compelled to due to some hitches during the April 9 polls.

    “I want to say the supplementary election was concluded peacefully despite some hitches especially at polling units of AMAC,” he said.

  • ‘Prioritise basic amenities’

    Residents of Kuje area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have urged the chairman-elect Abdulahi Galadima to prioritise provision of basic amenities as soon as he takes office.

    The residents urged the chairman-elect to provide potable water and primary healthcare as well as rehabilitate primary schools and bad roads in the area.

    One of the residents, Jonathan Ishiaku said, “Kuje is mostly characterised by bad roads, dirty surroundings and because of that, we are often faced with difficulties in going about our businesses.

    “We call on the incoming council administration to repair the Kuje township roads to encourage us to go about our day-to-day businesses with ease.

    “The administration should focus on Kuje-Gwagwalada road, Lanto-Shadadi road and complete the Kuje Main Market,”.

    Mr. Folu Ade, an electrician who resides at Sauka area in Kuje, called for regular evacuation of refuse dumps to avoid spread of diseases, while John Ziko called for prompt and regular payment of council workers’ salary.

    “Failure to do so will amount to repeating past mistakes as delay in payment of workers’ salary results in strike.

    “Delay in the payment of workers salary has never been this bad; we look forward to the incoming administration to correct such abnormally.

    “If the incoming administration failed to perform in the next three years, we will vote them out in the next election,” Jonathan said.

    Another resident, Mrs Raheal Galadima, urged the incoming council administration to empower young people in education to promote capacity building among youths.

    ’’My expectation is that the chairman-elect should empower young people from the community to go to school or even further their education, where necessary.

    “It will be the way forward to drive human capacity development at the grassroots,’’ said Galadima, a teacher at Kayarda Primary School, Kuje.

     

  • Absentee moneybags

    Millionaires who usually thronged the corridors of power have now virtually disappeared.

    They were regular features at the Presidential Villa while Dr Goodluck Jonathan held the reins of power.

    As the President Muhammadu Buhari administration approaches its one year anniversary, many of them have distanced themselves from the administration since its inception.

    Many political watchers in May 2015 had thought that they would  only stay away for a few weeks to give the Buhari administration time to settle down.

    While many of them have stayed away completely in the past 11 months, only very few have been spotted about once or twice during the period, though there is still the possibility of some of them visiting the seat of power under the cover of darkness and away from the prying eyes of journalists.

    But whether they visited in the night under Jonathan, their presence during daytime was still felt in the Villa.

    These developments have been generating some questions among Nigerians.

    For instance, are the moneybags avoiding the Villa to stay away from the government’s  anti-corruption searchlight on them and their businesses?

    Or do they not feel free to give their support to the Buhari administration like they did to the past administrations?

    The following are some of the influential Nigerians who normally frequented the Presidential Villa under Jonathan but have completely stayed away under Buhari or whose number of visits are less than five times in almost a year.

    Hardly did a month go by under Jonathan without one of the richest men in the world, Aliko Dangote, visiting the Presidential Villa.

    But Dangote, who owns the Dangote Group operating in Nigeria and other African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, and Zambia, has only been sighted attending very few meetings at the Presidential Villa in the past 11 months.

    An entrepreneur, philanthropist and Chairman of Forte Oil Plc, Femi Otedola, who also normally visited the Villa under Jonathan, has become very scarce at the seat of power.

    Another influential billionaire who has become scarce at the Villa since end of Jonathan’s tenure is Tony Elumelu.

    Elumelu is an economist, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

    Founder of Stanbic IBTC Holding Co., Atedo Peterside, always attended one power sector meeting or the other in the last dispensation, especially with former Vice President Namadi Sambo. This appears to have become history.

    An influential businessman, Tunde Ayeni, who often visited the Villa under Jonathan has also become scarce.

    Although, he has been spotted few times at the Presidential Villa under the current dispensation.

    Another billionaire who never joked with his frequent visits to the Villa under Jonathan is Ifeanyi Ubah.

    He formed the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), which played a great role towards Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015.

    Ubah became very scarce in the Villa in the last eleven months.

    But he was recently spotted in the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa at the end of Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari’s ‘The Essential of Beauty Therapy’ book launch.

    Another close ally of Jonathan, who normally frequent the Villa then, is Arthur Eze.

    Eze, who is a businessman with interest in oil and gas, has led many foreign businessmen to meetings with former Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

    He has become very scarce in the Villa under Buhari.

    It is not clear why many of these billionaires have disappeared from the Villa with their money and business ideas.

    It is, however, cheery news to hear recently that Dangote has decided to help the Buhari administration to revamp the economy.

    He made the promise in Lagos on April 22 when he was honoured as “Man of the Year 2015” by The Guardian newspapers.

    Promising to assist Nigeria to reach the next level, Dangote was certain that Nigerial will excel in the next two and half years.

    That is the spirit expected of these billionaires.

    If they don’t have any skeleton in their cupboards, they should feel free to come forward to assist the present administration in rebuilding the Nigerian economy.

    Everything should not be left for the government to do. The private sector has a great role to play.

     

  • AMAC chair-elect inaugurates transition committee

    The chairman-elect of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Abdullahi Candido has set up a 25-member  transition committee that would ensure a smooth transition programme in May.

    Candido said the aim of the committee, which is chaired by Alhaji Yakubu Adamu, is not to witch-hunt anybody, but to gather information that would guide him in office.

    He explained that the committee is not made up politicians, but professionals that are well acquainted with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council administrations.

    “Since 1999 the transition in AMAC has been a transition from one sister to a brother and one brother to another brother, without proper need to get important information to kick start governance.

    “Ours has to be different, we cannot do it the same way they have been doing, this formed the basis for this transition committee. So, the committee should seek to know the contractual agreements between the council and it’s contractors, stage of work executed and mobilisation received by the contractors, if any.

    “The committee should seek to know the contractual agreement between the council and its internally generated revenue or consultants. Also, should seek to know the overall debt profile of the council as at April 30, 2016.

    “Beam your searchlight on the AMAC Local Education Authority, total staff strength and last date of staff recruitment and the overall overhead cost as at 30th April,” he said.

    Candido also said the committee should seek to know the area council staff strength, last date of employment and the overhead cost of the staff.

  • FCTA’s N76.5m for Japanese partnership

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has released  N76.5 million as part its counterpart fund for various projects in the Territory by the Japanese government.

    The partnership is coordinated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello said this while receiving a delegation of JICA led by its Country Senior Representative, Mr. Hiroshi Kodama in his office.

    The minister said that N46.5 million out of the N76.5 million is the counterpart funding for integrated solid waste management system in the FCT under the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

    Bello revealed that the balance of N30 million is to serve as its share for the water sub-sector projects including metering of water consumers in the FCT, adding that the project would greatly reduce water leakages on the main trunk line.

    According to the statement issued by the Deputy Director/ Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the Minister said it was very important for the city to have a comprehensive waste management system that would be in place for the benefits of all residents.

    He stated that the FCTA is working to expand access to the dumpsites and also create more access roads into the sites so that the refuse disposal trucks can go in simultaneously from three different entry points.

    According to him, this will ensure that waste is properly disposed at the dumpsites.

    He lamented that the absence of enough entering points to site has made some trucks to dispose wastes on the site indiscriminately.

    The Minister also harped on the need for waste to be properly sorted in the Federal Capital Territory for recycling and other purposes, thereby improving their economic values; adding that waste is wealth.

    His words: “It is very clear that for us to achieve proper waste management in the city, we have to have a system of sorting that will clearly differentiate between the plastics, glasses, metals, the soft waste that you can make into biomass as well as the other solid wastes. This as you know, we don’t have in the system.”

    Bello expressed the desire of the FCT Administration to also partner with JICA on waste management in the FCT Area Councils and satellite towns; saying it would serve as blueprint for practical waste management system in the entire Territory.

    “In the satellite towns, the waste is just being dumped on the streets in the water drainage systems. I have tried for the last eight weeks to move round the satellite towns to work on public awareness, to explain that you don’t just pick your waste and put it in the drainages. The municipal agents are not collecting it and the waste is just solidifying and piling up on the drainage system. Then the rains come, the drains are over flooded,” he added.

    The minister thanked JICA for the solar powered project it is carrying out at the Lower Usuma Dam water treatment plants; stressing that it is a big relief to the Administration.

    “We spend a lot of money to buy diesel for the generators there, since they have to work for 24 hours. If we can get some relief by using the solar system, that is a welcome development,” he said.

    Speaking earlier, the JICA Country Senior Representative, Mr. Hiroshi Kodama noted that JICA has several knowledge and skills particularly in the area of agriculture that it is willing to share with the people of the FCT.

    Kodama recalled that last year; JICA organized a workshop in Gwagwalada on rice cultivation technology especially on improved parboiling technology aimed at improving the quality of rice production in the Territory.

    He said, “For the farmers, we at JICA have a new marketing technology that we call SHEP, (Small Holder Horticulture Empowerment Project).”

  • A little to the East

    For one long week, President Muhammadu Buhari was in China on a working visit along with some top government officials and businessmen and women.

    Buhari, who left Nigeria on Sunday April 10 for the Asian country and returned on Saturday April 16, visited the country for the first time under the current dispensation.

    His main target was to get greater support from China towards turning around the fortunes of Nigeria and placing the most populous African nation on the path of growth.

    For several years, Nigeria relied mainly for support on its infrastructural development on the West.

    Under the current dispensation alone, President Buhari had led Nigeria delegations to the United States thrice and also been to many European countries seeking support and cooperation for the well-being of Nigeria.

    Despite the support from the West and the high level mismanagement of the Nigerian economy by past leaders, Nigeria has remained a poor nation in the face of its huge natural resources.

    Among other challenges, the current exchange rate of $1 to about N319 in the parallel market has been pushing up inflation in almost every sector of the economy.

    Costs of imported goods into Nigeria have been rising and indirectly pressuring the prices of locally produced goods and services upward.

    While most infrastructures in the country are nothing to write home about, revenue from its mono economy mainly dependent on oil has reduced from over $100 per barrel to around $40 per barrel for almost a year now.

    The falling oil prices in the international market have also continued to eat deeply into the Nigeria’s foreign reserves while the naira has continued to be very weak against the dollar.

    Dollarization of the Nigerian economy over the years is now gradually becoming a curse for the country.

    To find solutions, Buhari, sought the support of China for infrastructural development, in power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors, among other sectors.

    After the trip, the government has started counting the gains of the one week working visit to China.

    Apart from the belief that the several agreements concluded with China during the visit will have huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy, the visit was said to have yielded investments for Nigeria in excess of $6 billion.

    Highlights of the agreements in the power sector included North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signing an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

    For the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55 million for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

    A total of $1 billion USD is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

    For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250 million deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.

    Other agreements announced and signed during the visit included a $1 billion for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

    The Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200 million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

    An agreement valued at $363 million for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi state was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

    Other agreements undergoing negotiations included a $500 million project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25 million facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

    There were however fears in some quarters that Nigeria’s new romance with China will ruffle some feathers in the West.

    But the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has assured that the new found love with China will not soil Nigeria’s relation with the US.

    He said: “In relationship with the west, don’t forget that what has helped China so fast in 30 years is because of the investments of the west in China.

    “That is really what has transformed the Chinese economy, the Japanese, Germans and Americans. So we will not have any problem with the west. China is part of the World Trade Organization and part of the international trading system.” He added

    Barely five days Buhari returned from China, the US President, Barack Obama, sent a 42-member high-power delegation led by the US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Ms Samantha Power, to Nigeria.

    Their mission was to support the three priority areas of President Buhari’s administration including security, economy and governance.

    It is hoped that all these moves will really turn around Nigeria and propel it to its rightful place in the committee of nations, both economically and politically.

     

    Wike and the Villa

     

    The Presidential Villa last Wednesday and Thursday received irregular visitor to the seat of power.

    That is in the person of the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

    Unlike other state governors, it became almost impossible to sight Wike among his colleagues at any official function in the State House, Abuja especially after he got his electoral victory at the Supreme Court.

    But Wike stunned journalists and his colleagues as he attended the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) meeting at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja on Wednesday night.

    He also came to the Council Chamber the following day along with his colleagues for the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.

     

  • Hope for water in communities

    Hope for water in communities

    The Netherlands has a unique plan of providing water for Abuja rural communities: selling pictures of the deprived settlements and sinking boreholes with the proceeds. GRACE OBIKE reports

    The challenges of communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are well documented. Their roads are nearly impassable. Electricity supply is unreliable. Schools are poorly equipped where they exist. Water supply is woeful.

    What is less reported is what is being done to solve the problems.

    That is where the Netherlands comes in. The country wants to help by providing safe drinking water for the communities, but it aims to achieve the plan in quite a style.

    Its media partner, Media Information Narrative Development (MIND),  went to several such villages, took so many pictures and plans to sell them to people who sympathise with the deprived communities and want to help.

    Residents of such villages as  Kubwa, Karu, Nyanya, Karamajiji, Kuchigoro and a lot of other places buy water from vendors at a huge cost.

    In some communities, residents trek for miles in search of water everyday, something the ambassador of Netherlands John Groffen believes affects their productivity, prevents them from working and being productive enough to make money.

    He explained that unlike most countries, the Netherlands understand the merits and demerits of water since theirs is a country that has experienced several floods of which they have been forced to understand how to manage the excess water to their advantage.

    “It is about raising awareness about the position of poor women living in Nigeria, so we thought of combining the International Women’s Day and Waters Day and come up with a common team and so we came up with water, women and works. So what we try to do with this event which is part of a series of events is to show how fetching water on a daily basis, affects the productivity of women, prevents them from working, from being productive and making money, this exhibition is second in the part of the series of events where we try to raise awareness about the issue.

    “We choose the combination of work, water and women because the Netherlands is a country that is known for water management, we have learnt since centuries to fight against water, we know the importance of water, our country has been flooded many times and we have found ways of protecting our country from flood, we know the danger of water but we also know that water can bring a lot of good.

    “We looked at the similarities, the importance of water in the Netherlands and the importance of water in Nigeria. We decided on the FCT because we have the idea that there are areas in Nigeria that are affected more by the lack of water and if you just travel five minutes, ten minutes out of Abuja, you will be confronted with the reality. So the more people that buy the pictures, the more money we raise, the more that can be done for the specific purpose.

    “MIND is our media partner, we do a lot of programmes with them, the position of women and children, vulnerable elements in the society is something that we focus on and we have been working with them on a couple of projects, also daughters of the Niger delta which is a movie about the situation of women in the area, we do a lot of these projects and this is one of them,” Groffen said.

    The kingdom of Netherlands recently collaborated with MIND to provide potable water to as many communities in the FCT as possible. They visited several of such communities and chronicled their everyday struggle to fetch water, sometimes miles away from their homes. They took pictures of such everyday struggles, enlarged the pictures which where framed and displayed in a gallery, the proceeds from the sale of the pictures will be used to sink boreholes in communities like Kuchigoro, Karamajiji and a lot more.

    Programme Director, MINDS, Ilse Lamoen-Isoun explained that the advantage of these women carrying gallons of water everyday does not only affect their productivity but health because it can lead to severe body aches.

    She said, “The exhibition portrays the water problems that many women here in the FCT face, by water problem we mean inadequate access to clean water, we are trying to show how that impacts women, it’s no news that there is access to water, I think most people already know it but somehow not much is done about it so, we say maybe if we bring out some of the human stories and we really make people feel what it’s like to have to carry all that water for hours through communities or to pay for water with your hard earned money which some of this people don’t have much of anyway but now they have to pay for each and every drop of clean water they want to use, we want to make people feel what it means.”