The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • Daring the President

    It would have been unimaginable for anyone to disobey or delay in complying with the directive of the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, who was the Head of State in 1984.

    His wrath will even be more for any Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) that flout such directive then.

    But today because of the democratic environment of President Buhari’s administration, some MDAs have hesitated in complying with a dully issued directive of the government.

    To block corrupt loopholes exploited by some politicians and civil servants to beat the system, President Buhari in a circular dated August 7, 2015 directed the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    But either for their dubious reasons to continue to siphon government revenue to private pockets or just stalling to see if the government will relax the directive as time goes on, some MDAs refused to obey the circular one month after it was issued.

    President Buhari, who was irked by the refusal of the MDAs to comply with the directive, on last Monday, last week issued one week deadline for all the MDAs to comply with the directive.

    They are all expected to comply with the directive latest by today or face sanctions from the government.

    A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari has set a deadline of Tuesday, September 15, 2015 for full compliance with his directive that all revenue due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies must be paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) or designated accounts maintained and operated in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), except otherwise expressly approved.

    “A circular issued to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, urged the MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the deadline to avoid sanctions.

    “The circular – HCSF/428/S.1/125 of September 4, 2015 – noted that a number of MDAs were yet to comply with Circular Ref. No. HCSF/428/S.1/120 of August 7, 2015 which conveyed President Buhari’s original directive on the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account.

    “In this regard, His Excellency, Mr. President has directed that all MDAs are to comply with the instructions on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) unfailingly by Tuesday, September 15, 2015.

    “Heads of MDAs and other arms of Government are enjoined to give this Circular the widest circulation and ensure strict compliance to avoid sanctions,” it stated.

    This is just a wake-up call for all Nigerians, especially in the civil service, to queue behind the anti-corruption drive of the President as Nigeria, in the long-run, will be better for it.

     

     

  • Centenary City of controversy

    Centenary City of controversy

    Its founders may have conceived a near-paradise of a metropolis but all the Centenary City has offered is one controversy after another. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports on the latest: indigenous women taking former Minister of the territory, Bala Mohammed to task over nonpayment of compensation.

    When will dreadful tales end about a city conceived to offer beauty and class? Initiated by the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration to mark the country’s 100th anniversary, the Abuja Centenary City was, at least in the head of its founders, nothing short of a dream land, a metropolis where everything was in its place.

    In reality, the multi-billion naira city has provided nothing but agony and controversy. There is no city to speak of. No houses, no residents, no beautiful lawns or classy cars cruising well paved roads. Forests surround the site. The city has failed to take off.

    That is not all. Many have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to scrap the project. Some have asked whether former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, whose office championed the project, had any personal interests in it and whether or not he declared such interests. Anyim also faced questions regarding how he reportedly sourced N1.2 billion allegedly paid from his company’s account to displaced people.

    Now, some of those displaced people have said they were not paid any resettlement fees as compensation for their indigenous lands acquired for the Centenary City. Indigenous women in Abuja under the auspices of Airport Road Gbagyi Women Association have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over nonpayment of compensation by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Centenary City Plc.

    Women Leader of Centenary City affected communities, Mrs. Ladi Danladi who made this known in a press statement called on Buhari to sanction the former Minister for FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed for pitching him and his administration against the people.

    According to the indigenous women, Buhari should compel the former Minister for FCT Senator Bala Mohammed to immediately provide adequate compensation for their lost means of livelihood.

    “Professional estimates put the compensation value at more than N10 billion. A lot of our young people are going to be rendered idle and we do not want this to happen because an idle mind is a fertile mind for anything.

    “Compel the Minister to retract his malicious and false accusation that he has paid us one billion two hundred million (N1,200,000,000) naira as compensation. Reassure us that we will not regret our support for your administration by correcting this outright injustice.

    “Proactively handle this to avoid a breach of peace within the FCT and by extension the Nigerian nation. We write to vehemently protest the wicked, malicious and unfortunate deprivation of our means of sustainable livelihood, false accusation, discord and hatred being sown in our community that may lead to breach of peace by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed.

    “We are the entire women representing the original inhabitant communities of the area presently designated as the centenary city, consisting of the following communities, Baruwa, Dayisna, Kpaikpai and Togo. We as women are the last bastion of peace, as we have been intervening and preventing our men from carrying out their threat of outright confrontation,” they said.

    They explained that their communities have always loved and supported the present administration and they are willing to give President Buhari more support, that however, following the recent development, many of their people are beginning to question the sincerity of the present administration based on the actions of the FCT Minister.

    “The Minister has announced that he is compensating us for our means of sustainable livelihood with a sum of One billion Two Hundred Million Naira (N1, 200,000,000). Your Excellency, this sum is very paltry considering the huge number of our people whose means of livelihood will be terminated. No proper enumeration has been conducted and these figures do not in any way represent the quantity of losses that has been and will be incurred on the loss of our livelihood.

    Reminiscing over the purported one billion two hundred million naira announced to us as compensation, it is on record that the minister has only released the sum of three hundred, nineteen million, five hundred and seventy four thousand, nine hundred and seventy eight naira only.

    “The actual amount paid was N319, 574,978 the affected communities are BARUWA with a population of 702 people paid N80, 467,925, KPAIKPAI with a population of 656 people paid N55, 551,641, TOGE with a population of 681 people paid N86, 614,069 and DAYISNA with a population of 1,015 people paid N96, 941,343. Putting these people together, you will have a total number of 3,054 persons from the 4 communities.

    in Abuja, said that the affected communities namely, Barwa, Dayisna, Kpaikpai and Toga the condemned condemned and disassociate themselves from the statement.

    “We categorically consider the said approval of the report as submitted to Mr. President in it entiréty as fradulent, misleading and deceit. The authority had reneged on our collective position reached between the affected communities and the authority to constitute a standing Committee to fashion out modalities for the relocation and resettlement of the affected communities.

    “We have sincé rebuffed and countered by our letters to some government and concerned authorities, the statement made by the Director of Centenary City Plc, that affected communities have been compensated.

    “It is however, regretable that up to the time of this press briefing, we are yet to receive any response, correspondence or attention from the concern authourities. It is on record that the sum of N319, 574,979:00k only was spent as monetary compensation to the affected communities with respect to their crops and economic trees only,” they said.

    The indigènes explained in a breakdown of how the N319,574,979:00k they got for their crops and economic trees was shared amongst the affected communities, that Barwa village got N80,467,928, Dayisna village got N96,941,343:50k, Kpaikpai village N55,551,641, while Toge village got N86,614,069.

    “We therefore challenge the authority to explain how, and when the said a whoopping sum of over one billion naira, N1.237 was spent as compensation to the affected communities with verifiable evidence.

    “We have resolved to undertake all available legal and constitutional means to make sure that our inalienable rights as guarranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are not trampled upon as citizens of Nigeria,” Gade said.

     

     

     

  • Youths urge parties to select credible candidates

    Residents of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) under the auspices of Concerned Youths of AMAC have asked political parties in the council to select credible chairmanship candidates for the poll.

    Leader of the youths, Comrade Shekwo Audu made the call at a press briefing, said that future chairmanship candidates should emulate the present leadership of Hon. Micah Jiba for his sterling performance in office, establishing various skills aquisition centres.

    Continuing, Audu said the era of selecting selfish candidates who do not mean well for the people has passed, adding that any candidate selected must be ready to work in the interest of indigenes and residents of AMAC.

    He also praised the Jiba administration for ensuring that communities in the hinterland are provided with basic dividends of democracy like water, electricity and other infrastructural developments.

    He said indigent children in rural communities are getting more educated due to the council’s commitment to education.

    “Very soon,” he said, “political parties will be organising primaries to select their candidates for the forthcoming Area council elections. Many people have been showing interest to contest in different political parties. We are not against anybody, but we are advising the political parties to select credible candidates that would continue with the good work of the present council chairman, Hon. Micah Jiba.

    “We are appealing that people that mean well for the people of AMAC, just like he does should be selected by all political parties, so that during the election, anybody that wins, the people of AMAC will celebrate, because there will be credible persons to continue with the good works of this present administration.

    “We want to also advise residents of AMAC not to allow politicians to buy their conscience with money; rather they should pray and vote in the right people when the election fully commences. The Jiba-led administration is really doing well and we are praying that God will give us somebody that will come and continue with this good works,” he said.

  • RCCG makes case for health centres in suburbs

    The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has advocated the building of more healthcare centres in the suburbs of Abuja.

    Pastor-in-Charge of the City of David Parish of the RCCG, Abuja, Gbolade Okenla stated this during the church’s medical outreach at Jahi village in the Federal Capital Territory.

    He said, “The sum of N2 million for each will go a long way in the construction of primary health centres where locals could attend to their health needs rather than embarking on long distances to access medical care.”

    Okenla said this is to fulfill the vision of the General Overseer Enoch Adeboye, that the church must assist communities within their areas of worship, which he referred to its Corporate Social Responsibility.

    “We have to go out and minister to our neighbours and show them the true love of Christ. It’s to let everybody know that in whichever community we are we have to contribute in our own little way to help them,” he said.

    Dr Edache Adikun Etega, a member of the team of medical doctors and laboratory scientists, who participated in the exercise, identified malaria, hypertension, and diabetes as the main cases observed in the community.

    Some of the beneficiaries thanked the church for the exercise while calling on other religious and public-spirited individuals and organisations to emulate the gesture.

    I have collected my drugs and I am happy. I want God to continue to reward this church for helping the masses,” says Mr. Musa Salihu Ahmed, an engineer, who was treated for fracture.

    Blessing Ogwuche, who also thanked the church for the gesture, called on the government to establish a health centre in the area as the residents usually go to Gwarinpa or Asokoro to access medicare.

  • Exorcising the demons of power sector

    Pipeline vandals had such a field day that it seemed no day passed during past administrations without a case of vandalism. And it was at a huge cost, affecting power generation due to lack of gas supply.

    This probably gave past administrations reason to believe that the attacks were the handiwork of economic saboteurs since the frequent breaches took place as soon as major repairs were completed.

    As expected, the action of those cabals behind the vandalism cost Nigeria billions of naira which could at least have been channelled to better things.

    There was so much confusion as to whether those behind the vandalism were generator sets importers, Labour unions who had initially opposed the reforms and privatisation of the power sector, or simply by some unscrupulous elements who were benefitting from the attacks in other ways.

    The manner of the attacks caused then Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo to declare that the sector was under the attacks of ‘demons’ and ‘witches’, which he promised to exorcise.

    During his screening as a Minister by the Senate in 2013, Nebo declared to the lawmakers: “If the president deploys me in the power sector, I believe that given my performance at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I drove out the witches and demons, God will also give me the power to drive out the demons in the power sector.”

    Throughout his tenure, power generation was at its lowest ebb as the vandalism never stopped.

    The situation got so worse that the whole country was almost in darkness just before the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on May 29.

    Buhari has brought a ‘magic wand’ that immediately fixed the problems in the power sector.

    Vandalism, that more or less was a daily affair under past administration, has not been witnessed in the first 100 days of President Buhari’s administration.

    The ‘demons’ and ‘witches’ since Buhari came on board have either been subdued by the fear of Buhari or running away from actions that will prompt Buhari’s probe of the sector.

    The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Godknows Igala, who has been in the system before this administration came into power, made the revelation of the improved power generation while speaking to State House correspondents last week Monday.

    He said: “There have been more engagements of communities and stakeholders where the gas pipelines pass through so that they can give peace a chance and allow the gas to flow to the power plants.

    “The gas is now passing to the gas pipelines and I think that the government has been engaging the stakeholders in the places where these gas infrastructures pass through.

    “We hope it will be sustained because like I said there is a conscious engagement.” He said

    Igali continued: “There has also been redoubling of efforts with those who supply gas to the power plants. Our friends in the oil sector and gas sector have made sure more gas are available for the power plants that are hungry for gas.

    “Redouble means that there was effort and when there was effort and you put additional effort and additional effort, then, it means that you have redoubled your work and that is what is going on and at different levels the engagement of where the pipelines passed.

    “We saw tremendous vandalism especially before the handover. It has never been so bad. But, now for nearly three months not a single day have we had that kind of vandalism. It is our prayer that this will continue.”

    He said: “Mr. President from inception has made clear the fact that there is a need to redouble efforts by all stakeholders.

    “No doubt, in the past three months, nobody has built any new power station, any new turbines. But then there has been a redoubling of efforts in the way these assets are managed.

    “The Vice President has been holding almost daily meetings with the distribution companies. He added

    It is really hoped that Nigeria has perfectly put behind it the issue of pipeline vandalism for the power sector to play its key role of improving power supply and backing the upcoming industrialisation and revolution in various sectors of the economy.

    Ending poverty, unemployment

     

    With the level of natural and human resources Nigeria is blessed with, no Nigerian ought to have any business with poverty and unemployment.

    But due to corruption, lack of transparency, and unstable power supply, among other factors, many Nigerians could not afford three square meals in a day as many do not even have a roof over their heads.

    But the problems will soon be over as the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last Wednesday laid the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic outline before the 45th Annual Accounting Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Abuja.

    As a way forward from the present economic challenges, he called for immediate social sector investment, which includes investing in the people, education, job creation, national school feeding scheme, conditional cash transfer and reinflating economies of the States.

    To re-inflate states that could not pay workers’ salaries, he said that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has already approved bailout package for the workers in the country.

    Another area to reduce poverty is the commitment of the administration to provide one-meal-a day for all primary school students that will create jobs in agriculture, including poultry, catering and delivery services.

    The multiplier effects of the introduction of the scheme, he said, include 1.14 new jobs; increased food production – up to 530,000 mt/a; attracting investor by investment – up to N980b.

    Through conditional cash transfer to alleviate poverty, he said that 25 million poorest households would be supported.

     

     

  • Take your vehicles for computer test’

    It is not enough to have a spare tyre or fire extinguisher and those other things road safety managers insist on; you should also present your vehicle for computer test.

    At the first anniversary of the Abuja Computerised Vehicle Testing Service (CVTS), its executive officer Mr Segun Obayendo urged motorists in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to take their vehicles to CVTS centre for the test.

    He said the measure prevents accidents.

    Obayendo said the measure had been around for decades.

    “Now we have improved on it by using state-of-the-art equipments. The problem is that it is new and we lack the tendency to resist change, even if it is to our own advantage. That is what has affected this project, but with consistent sensitisation programmes, we will get people to comply.

    “When we go on enforcement, sometimes we get motorists who are not with the inspection report and some are still having the handwritten Road Worthiness Certificates, that is not what we are issuing out after the inspection, it is against our laws. We believe that as time goes on, people will do the right things on the issue of road worthiness,” he said.

    He also frowned at the fact that the vehicles inspection center has been able to inspect just 14,000 vehicles in the FCT in the past one year in their two vehicles inspection centres, which he said is a very small number compared to their expectations.

    “The two centres we have, have capacity of 250 each, which 500 vehicles per day. That means we are supposed to have inspected over 140,000 in one year, if the people were complying.

    “For now the sanction of offenders is that when they are caught, we compel them to go through the exercise for them to get the road worthiness certificate and then they will pay a fine of N2000 for not complying with the law initially,” he said.

    The Permanent Secretary, FCT administration, Mr. John Chukwu, further advised the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) FCT chapter and the FCT Transport Secretariat to partner with the vehicles inspection testing services in order to have safety on FCT roads.

    “We are also encouraging motorists in the FCT to Make use of this facilities, by ensuring that their vehicles are worthy of road use. If they do it, they are ensuring the safety of their passengers, families and their own lives.

    “That is why we are encouraging both the FCT Transport Secretariat and the Road Safety to collaborate with the VIO, to ensure that these facilities are used. In doing that, we are going to reduce the numbers of lost lives and fatalities on our roads,” he said.

    Merit Awards of Excellence were given to the immediate past FCT Transport Secretariat Secretary, Engr. Jonathan Ivoke, Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase and FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, amongst others for their contribution in ensuring that Thérè is saftefy on FCT roads.

     

  • Traffic offenders to be sanctioned

    Traffic offenders are in for a rough ride in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) judging from pronouncements from the Administration.

    FCTA has also threatened to sanction motorists who indiscriminately park their vehicles on walkways and other unauthorised places.

    FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. John Chukwu, an engineer, said this in Abuja at the first anniversary of the Abuja Computerised Vehicle testing services.

    Deputy Director and Chief Press Secretary FCT, Muhammad Sule made this known in a press statement, i which he stated that the Permanent Secretary had appealed to all Abuja road users to obey traffic rules and road signs to avoid crashes.

    He also stated, “The Permanent Secretary further threatened that parking on walkways and other unauthorised places would not be taken lightly as appropriate sanctions would also be applied.

    “Engr. Chukwu used the occasion to appeal to all road users in the Federal Capital Territory to obey traffic rules and road signs to ensure safety on Abuja roads.

    “He identified three major causes of road crashes, which according to him include the state of the road, the attitude of the driver and more importantly the state of the vehicle.

    “Where the state of the vehicle is largely compromised, the resultant effect can better be imagined and therefore every effort must not be spared to keep vehicles plying FCT roads Roadworthy.

    “The Permanent Secretary thus, instructed the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services to synergise with the operators of the Testing Centre to ensure that all vehicles in the Territory are subjected to the clinical diagnosis of the Centre before roadworthiness certificates are issued to the owners.

    “In order to reduce the effect of the high rate of road fatalities occasioned by the prevalence of unworthy vehicles, Engr. Chukwu directed the Directorate of Road Traffic Services to replicate Vehicle Testing Service Centres in all the six Area Councils of the Territory.

    “He reiterated that the establishment of the Testing Centre in the six Area Councils would provide easy access to motoring public in and around the Satellite Towns to get their vehicles tested.ý”

  • Our infrastructure challenges, by Kuje residents

    Residents of Kuje area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) bemoaned their lack of basic amenities in their community, calling on chairman of the council Shaban Tete to respond to their needs.

    One of the residents, Mr. Joshua John who spoke with Abuja Review said nothing much has changed for the better in the council since Tete took office.

    He said, “The good thing about this administration is endless promises without fulfilment. We have not seen anything that has been constructed and commissioned by this administration that can improve the living standard of Kuje people, apart from the market that was recently commissioned.

    “The leadership of the council led by Mr. Shaban Tête promised us potable water supply and rural electricity when he assumed office; now it is going to three years and nothing has been done in any community. The people are still suffering from water shortage and living in darkness.

    “Kuje roads that were constructed by previous administrations are going bad on a daily basis, mostly the roads that lead to the town when coming from Lugbe; also the road that leads to the General Hospital. In fact, almost all the roads in Kuje town are becoming dilapidated and inaccessible. The council cannot even maintain them.”

    Grace Oba, another resident, lamented: “We voted for him [Tete] because of the promises he made to us to make the council like other developed councils like Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). But, since the present administration, things have gone worse in this council. We spend most nights in darkness in this council. We need things to change for the better.

    “We are appealing to him to make his promises a reality by correcting so many things that are going wrong in the council, before Kuje town becomes like one of the communities in the hinterland where there are no access roads, water and electricity. Very soon another election will commence, and the people are waiting and watching to hear more promises.”

     

  • Pupils’ breakthrough in phone tech

    Pupils’ breakthrough in phone tech

    In barely two weeks of UNESCO-sponsored training, pupils show remarkable promise, developing 14 phone applications. OLUGBENGA ADANIKIN reports

    Pupils are making life easier in several respects. They can now access school libraries, for instance, from the phone in their hands. And if you like to avoid the dangers of answering calls while driving, a new application can send an automatic message to your caller informing them that you are behind the wheels and that you are at such and such location, just in case it will be of any use to them.

    Secondary school pupils have come up with these and other applications, all to make life a little easier. It is no less than a breakthrough.

    It was all thanks to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation or UNESCO, which organised a rigorous Mobile Application Training exercise for about 68 secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It is known as YouthMobile.

    Each of the schools sent one pupil who gathered at the Government Junior Secondary School (GSS), Jabi for the four-week training programme.

    It started on July 27 and ended August 21, with the participants taught basic principles of computer coding and application designs for mobile phones.

    Away from conventional computing, the students were about to develop 14 mobile applications crucial for stakeholders in the education and health sector as well as measures to reduce road accidents.

    The workshop was supported by Samsung. About 150 Samsung ATIV Book 2 laptops were donated to the participating schools to further complement the training.

    •Akindayo Akindolani receiving his certificate
    •Akindayo Akindolani receiving his certificate

    Executive Director, Zariah Elizabeth Foundation, Mr. Dayo Akindolani, Lead Consultant for the training, empowered the students using the MIT Application Inventor, the major software used to design the 14 mobile applications.

    According to him, the training became imperative to equip secondary school students at a very young age so as to prepare them ahead of time and they could compete with their colleagues’ home and abroad.

    “UNESCO really wants to empower young people on mobile developments. They want to create tech entrepreneurs from young students. Globally people are developing phones and they will want mobile applications to be on them. There is an app that teaches students current affairs because most students are ignorant of public office holders in their states, local governments even at the federal level. So with this application, they are easily empowered about their President, governors, lawmakers and the rest,” Akindolani said.

    “There is an application designed by the students which can send short messages to your loved ones in your local dialect, during emergencies,” he added.

    ýMusa Yakubu Maikasuwa representative of FCT Education Secretariat, described the students as super and intelligent, saying, “The set we have now are more exposed to bring FCT the deserved honour.”

    Maikasuwa said irrespective of the quality of education or status of education acquired, everyone is expected to be computer literate, emphasising that the students should count themselves very lucky being selected from over 150, 000 secondary school students in the territory.

    “When you are not ICT compliance you are an illiterate so the students should count themselves extremely lucky for being selected to participate in the workshop. You have been provided the skills to make you self-reliance, so you can be established somewhere for being part of this process” he said. “Make sure that the laptop is being utilised and also use the skill for you benefit and that of the society,” Maikasuwa added.

    UNESCO Regional Director, Benoit Sossou said the YouthMobile training was one of the several UNESCO programmes aimed at enabling universal access and preservation of information knowledge.

    Sossou, who was represented by his assistant, Mrs. Adele Nibonal noted that the programme was to empower secondary school students in building inclusive knowledge, societies, creating the conditions for sustainable development and peace by promoting universal access.

    He said a similar training would be held in Cross River State for 80 secondary schools from Oban, Akamkpa Local Government.

    “The curriculum used for this training is the MIT App Inventor which is high-level and open-licensed for easy translation, localization and innovations. 68 secondary school students from the FCT were trained within 4 weeks.

    “The YouthMobile Initiative builds on the experience of many worldwide initiatives that introduce young people to computer science programming (learning-to-code) and problem solving (coding-to-learn). It also builds on experiences targeting young women who are vastly underrepresented in this field.

    “Finally, it builds on the consideration that for millions of young people, the smart phone in their pocket is a very powerful computer, it will be their only computer and they use it in nearly every aspect of their lives; communicating, learning, taking pictures and playing games.” Sossou added.

    Miss Aminat Mohammed from Army Day Secondary School, Maitama described the training important to her life, especially computer literacy and application development.

    ýMohammed said, “I have learnt a lot because now I can develop an app on my own without anyone assisting me, before now, I can’t even operate a laptop but now, I can to a reasonable extent.

    “I will advise other students to learn more on ICT because it’s very important. You can be self-employed without waiting for anyone to offer you jobý.”

     

  • Fed Govt urged to scrap council legislature

    Youths in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYE) have called on the federal government to scrap local government legislative houses, which they described as comatose.

    The President of the indigenous organisation, Commandant Isaac David who made this call in Abuja on behalf of the youths, in a press statement, blamed the prolonged and negative relationship between the councils and the FCT administration on the incompetence of the area councils legislators.

    According to David, the FCT  administration which is being run by bureaucrats who are not close to the grassroots, rely on information and data metrics fed them by the leadership of the area councils who run the councils as a family business without enough consultation with the public.

    “The Legislative Houses are comatose and may need to be scrapped as they are not doing their work. Because of their incompetence, the chairmen run the council as if it is their family business.

    “Recently, the media has been inundated with commentaries on the management of resettlement issues in the programme of the Land Swap and especially the Centenary City and how the original inhabitants were shortchanged in the process.

    “All this adverse publicity would have been avoided if the area councils being managed by the elected representatives of the people did their work in a transparent and accountable manner. There is also not only poor communication between the Councils and the public, but also internal communication among themselves.

    “Government communication involves not only sending out persuasive messages to the public, but also explaining working policies, creating awareness of the rights of citizens, and developing mechanisms that enable two-way communication between citizens and the government. The Councils need to understand that government communication is not propaganda,” he said.

    Commandant David further said that effective public communication efforts enable citizen participation, but the FCT area councils lack a culture of consultation and participation, exacerbated by low literacy rates and lack of information provision even with the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.

    “Without better communication governments risk losing public support for their programmes, policies and development interventions. We note that it is the intention of Government to provide the public with timely, accurate, clear, objective and complete information about its policies, programmes, services and initiatives. The public has a right to such information,” he said.