The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • Health Secretariat in partnership to fight blindness

    Health Secretariat in partnership to fight blindness

    The Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat Dr. Demola Onakomaiya has stressed the FCT Administration’s commitment to eradicating blindness by the year 2020, adding that the Secretariat will collaborate with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and World Health Organisation to fight the disease.

    This will be done by providing the required medical equipments in all FCT hospitals in line with international best practices.

    The Secretary gave the assurance when West Africa sub-regional Manager of International Centre for Eye Care Education, Dr. Anne Effion Ebiri visited him in Abuja.

    He said that to eliminate avoidable blindness and improve socio-economic well-being of FCT, the Administration has established three main components of the eye care plan namely Disease Control, Human Resource Development and Equipment Technology.

    He said that the International Centre for Eye Care Education (ICEE) came into collaboration with the FCT Health Secretariat in 2011, with a Memorandum of Understanding on eye care signed between the FCT Health Secretariat and ICEE in April 2011 as regards the FCT.

    One of the achievements of this collaboration between the two bodies is the establishment of an ultra-modern eye care centre in Kubwa General Hospital where primary, secondary and tertiary eye care services are being rendered to the public at a subsidised rate, added Onakomaiya.

    In her speech, Dr. Anne Effiom Ebiri said the “Seeing is Believing (SIB) Nigeria Project” started in January 2011, and that it is customary for SIB representatives from International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to visit project locations at least once before the full project cycle to assess the progress made on the project.

    Anne added that the project has recorded appreciable achievement in the area of advocacy, health information, awareness creation and community mobilisation, support to infrastructure development and equipment. She urged the general public to take advantage of the self-test vision corridors being erected in strategic locations in the FCT.

     

  • Fed Govt plans cargo airport in six states

    Fed Govt plans cargo airport in six states

    Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide has said that the Federal Government will construct six bulk-produce cargo airports in the Federal Capital Territory and five other states. The states are Lagos, Rivers, Benue and Plateau.

    The minister, who stated this during a meeting with members of the local organising committee on agricultural show and exhibition in the FCT, said the cargo airports would be used for transporting bulk agricultural produce from one area to another.

    She reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to make the country sufficient in rice production by 2014.

    “The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is working assiduously for Nigeria to be rice-sufficient by 2014.

    “The government, in collaboration with state governments, has initiated a rice mills programme and is procuring rice mills which would be distributed across the states and the FCT. The FCT is expected to get two of the rice mills which will be located in Abaji and Kwali area councils,” she said.

    Endorsing the agricultural show and exhibition slated to hold from December 5 to 8, 2012, Akinjide advised youths to take up employment in agriculture which, she stated, was financially rewarding.

    “The Federal Government has revolutionised the agriculture sector with the development of a new policy aimed at making agriculture commercial. The government has introduced the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA) aimed at revamping the agriculture sector, ensuring food security, diversifying the economy, and enhancing foreign exchange earnings.

    “Under the ATA, key initiatives such as the growth enhancement support scheme (GESS) have been introduced to support smallholder farmers in the agriculture value chain. The ultimate goal is to ensure that agriculture is practised as lucrative commercial enterprise that is not only sustainable but also attractive to our youths and young people,” she stated.

    Earlier, the chairman of the local organising committee on agricultural show and exhibition in the FCT, Alhaji Ari Isa Mohammed, explained that the FCT Administration was partnering with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture to organise the exhibition.

    “The Department of Economic Planning, Research and Statistics is working with the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat and other stakeholders and has since commenced preparation by setting up a local organising committee for the agricultural show and exhibition,” said Mohammed, who is the Director of Economic Planning, Research and Statistics in the FCTA.

     

  • FCTA to open 10 new districts

    FCTA to open 10 new districts

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has restated its commitment to open 10 new districts with up-to-date basic infrastructure before 2015.

    The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed disclosed this during the 2012 annual general meeting of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, FCT chapter.

    The Minister, who was represented at the occasion by his Senior Special Assistant, (Information Management System), Hajiya Jamilah Tangaza, noted that the aggregate infrastructure development in the FCT in more than 36 years has not been more than 25 per cent.

    Senator Mohammed regretted that over 90 per cent of allocated plots in the phases one to five of the Federal Capital City are not yet developed by those to who the plots were allotted.

    According to him, the change in demographics has therefore necessitated his administration resolve to approach provision of infrastructure and general development of the city from a radical perspective.

    He said: “We came up with the land swap model which translates to the private sector providing infrastructure in exchange of land.”

    He reiterated that the implementation thrust of the transformation agenda on the FCT is to open up new districts as the private sector would be given incentives to provide site and services within such districts.

    “Our benchmark is to provide at least 10 new districts by 2015 as the FCT Administration is to grant agreed percentage of land in a Greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a special contract envisaged by the Land Use Act,” he added.

    The minister emphasised that, in exchange for the grant, the developer is to provide primary infrastructure in the agreed district without any financial, technical or demand risk on the part of the FCT Administration; adding that the land swap model promises to expand the city and eventually reduce cost of houses.

    Senator Mohammed urged the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations to collaborate with the government in promoting people-friendly policies and programmes for good governance and national unity.

    Speaking earlier, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi revealed that the institute would move its headquarters from Lagos to Abuja before the end of this month.

    The theme of the AGM/Conference was “Role of Public Relations in Fostering National Unity.”

  • Who’s afraid of Ribadu?

    The week passed on quietly unlike  the previous one in which a protocol breach  almost ruined the presentation of a petroleum committee report. The issue, though, has refused to go away.

    One week after the Nuhu Ribadu-headed Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRSTF) submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Presidency is still fretting over issues raised by the chairman of the task force.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe took up issues with the former anti-corruption agency chief, questioning the neutrality and fair-mindedness of his team.

    The medical doctor turned politician who has since that faithful Friday after Steve Orosanye’s attempt to rubbish the report failed, has picked up the gauntlet and with a wave of the hand, declared that the job of the task force was incomplete, saying the team failed to engage consultants, as stipulated in the terms of reference of the task force.

    The president has assured, though, that despite the disagreement by some members of the committee, the report will be considered on its own merit and so he was going to work on it.

    The presidency also said it will look into the report on refineries.

    However Nigerians are watching keenly to see if the president will stick to his words by implementing the reports.

    The week was also shaped by presidency concern for telecommunication subscribers in the country. An ultimatum has been issued to telecom service providers in the country to improve service or face sanctions.

    Besides, government said it has also concluded arrangements to check all promotions that are aimed at increasing subscriber-base as this has been fingered as one of the root causes of congestion on the network.

    As a result, by December, government is expected to come up with another detailed review of the quality of service indicator, with a position that any network operator that is found wanting will be appropriately sanctioned by the regulator. It is yet to be proved if the government will back its word with action.

    The Presidency also pursued the issue of development as it approved a loan of $77million (about N12billion) to address the perennial potable water problems in Lagos and Cross River states.

    The loan which is a concessionary one is coming from a French agency. The breakdown shows that $43.9 million (N6.8bn) goes to Cross River State and $33.8 million (about N5.2bn) to Lagos.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved N2.3 billion for expansion work on the service lane of the Niger Bridge at Onitsha. The Council also approved N444 million for completion of the Ibadan-Oyo section of the Ilorin-Ibadan Expresssway.

    The decision was reached at the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Other approval granted at the weekly council meeting includes the Mambila and Zengeru dams under the Build, Operate and Transfer arrangement. Already the Federal Government has signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with two Chinese firms, Messrs Sino Hydro and CCEEC.

    Also, the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation launched to raise money to resettle people who were displaced from their homes, was successful in its first outing as it raked in N11.35 billion.

    There were also pledges from other people who preferred to keep their donation secret. Aliko Dangote, the co-chair of the committee and the Federal Government donated N2.5 billion each.

    Dangote, who had earlier donated N200 million to Kogi State also set aside N150 million for the running of the Committee Secretariat.

    Also on the donation list were Chief Arthur Eze, Tony Elumelu and Jim Ovia who donated N1 million each while the chief fund raiser, Chief Mike Adenuga donated N500 million.

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi also announced a donation of N1.8 billion on behalf of all state governors representing N15 million each from each state.

    Others who donated to the cause included construction giants Julius Berger, Setraco, Dantata and Sawoe, RCC and other corporate organisattions and public-spirited individuals.

    Flagging off the fund raising, the President appealed to Nigerians and the international community to donate generously to the cause.

    He recounted the ordeal of the victims during his tour of the affected states as “tragedy that will melt the hardest of hearts’’.

    The President noted that though the cause of the flood was still being assessed, government had taken some immediate measures through the release of funds and relief materials.

    Beside the funds raised, the Presidency released the sum of N9.7 billion to the Ministry of Agriculture for food and agricultural seedlings while N2.5 billion was released to the Ministry of Health for disease control.

    The president also stirred the hornet‘s nest when he described the Boko Haram sect which has become his nemesis and its sponsors as primitive and uncivilised. The president who spoke in Dutse, Jigawa State, noted that the act of taking people’s lives, especially innocent ones through acts of terrorism is primitive, hence perpetrators and sponsors are  uncivilised.

    While calling on Nigerians to totally condemn the act of terrorism, the president stressed that the various killings by the group are unjustifiable.

    He therefore urged Nigerians to assist relevant authorities to check the trend which he noted was inimical to the development of the country.

    Jonathan also praised the people of Jigawa State for maintaining peace, despite the violence within the Northeast geo-political zone.

     

  • Man docked for manslaughter

    A 25-year-old man, Jamil Abdul’Aziz, of Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, has been arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly causing accident by dangerous driving.

    The prosecutor, Abdullahi Adamu, told the court that on October 28, the accused drove dangerously on Ibrahim Babangida Expressway, by ECWA Church, Wuse 2, Abuja.

    Adamu said that as a result, the accused knocked down a pedestrian, George Danjuma, of Sanga LGA, Kaduna.

    He said that the victim was rushed to the hospital where he died.

    Adamu said that the offence contravened Section 548 of the Road Traffic Authority. Abdul-Aziz, however, pleaded not guilty.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mr Azubike Okeagwu, granted the accused in the sum of N300,000 and two sureties in like sum.

    Okeagwu said that the sureties must be civil servants who reside within the jurisdiction of the court and adjourned the case to November 29 for hearing.

  • Council continues sensitisation on flood

    Council continues sensitisation on flood

    The sensitisation campaign mounted by the Abaji Area Council has continued  after its inauguration by the council chief, Hon Yahaya Musa Mohammed.

    The campaign which was launched as a precautionary measure against flood which ravaged some parts of the FCT and displaced millions of Nigerians. Residents of Abaji were educated on how to keep flood away from their houses.

    The experts, who were going from house to house educating the residents, urged them to stop dumping refuse in the drains because if they are blocked, water would find its way into their houses.

    They were also told to ensure the drains are sanitised regularly.

  • FCT area councils share N1.8b

    FCT area councils share N1.8b

    The Federal Capital Territory Area Councils Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) has shared N1,894,400,916.45 among the six area councils being revenue and subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme (SURE-P) allocations for the month of September.

    The councils include: Abaji, Abuja Municipal, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali.

    The funds distributed are for the payment of primary school teachers and workers in the councils, pension of workers and execution of capital projects in the area councils and satellite towns.

    The Chairperson of FCT Area Councils (JAAC) and Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, who disclosed this at the meeting of the committee, said revenue allocation of N1,837,627,054.79 was received from the Federation Accounts allocation Committee for the Area Councils for September.

    Akinjide, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mr Anthony Ozodinobi, also noted that the sum of N56,773,861.66 was received from the Federal Government being the Area Councils’ share of the SURE-P allocation for the month of October.

    The five per cent Value Added Tax, according to the minister, accounted for the lion’s share of the revenue allocation to the area councils of N1.101 billion, representing an increase of N47 million or 4.5 per cent over the N1.054 billion received in the preceding month for VAT.

    The Statutory Revenue Allocation for the Area Councils also rose by N17.48 million from N675.20 million in August to N692.68 in September.

    Of the N1.894 billion available for sharing, the FCT Area Councils Joint Account Allocation Committee gave N844.57 million to the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) for payment of the primary school teachers’ salaries in the six area councils; N95.04 million to FCT Area Councils Pension Board (ACPB) being 15 per cent pension fund as statutorily required, and N18.94 million to FCT Area Councils Service Commission being one per cent training fund, also statutorily required.

    The net revenue allocation of N935.85 million was shared by the six councils, with Abuja Municipal receiving N175.96 million; Gwagwalada, N172.86 million; Bwari, N165.46 million; Kuje, N145.50 million; Abaji, N139.71 million; and Kwali, N136.33 million.

    Akinjide gave the breakdown of the distribution of the SURE-P funds as follows: Abaji, N6.96 million; Abuja Municipal, N16.77 million; Bwari, N9.28 million; Gwagwalada, N8.50 million; Kuje, N7.45 million, and Kwali, N7.79 million.

    The FCT Area Councils JAAC meeting was attended by the Kuje Area Council Chairman, Hon. Danladi Etsu Zhin; Abuja Municipal Area Council Chairman, Hon. Micah Jiba; Bwari Area Council Chairman, Hon. Peter Ushafa; Gwagwalada Area Council Chairman, Hon. Zakari Angulu Dobi; Kwali Area Council Chairman, Hon. J.K. Shazin, and Abaji Area Council Chairman, Hon. Yahaya Muhammad.

    Others in attendance at the meeting were: Deputy Director, FCT Treasury, Mr. Jimoh Johnson Special Assistant to the Minister of State on Area Councils, Mr. Peter Fwa; Special Assistant to the Minister of State on Environment, Mr. Ayo Sotinrin, and Directors of Admin and Finance in the secretariats.

  • FCTA targets N10b IGR

    Determined to increase its internally generated revenue, the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) has launched an online payment portal to enhance revenue collection, and ensure a coordinated and convenient revenue accounting system.

    When operational, the scheme, the council stated, would enable it generate as much as N10 billion revenue in 2013 as well as block leakages in the payment and collection of utility bills in the Federal Capital Territory.

    The AMMC coordinator, Mr. Rueben Okoya, an architect, who presented the online payment portal to journalists in Abuja, explained that with the payment scheme, customers would not need to go to bank and queue endlessly.

    He stated that the Easy pay scheme as it would be known, would also plug revenue loss and make it easy for the public to pay their utility bills and charges into its coffers right from their sitting room.

    According to him, payment could be made from the Automated Teller Machines, dedicated point of sale terminals, mobile payment through cell phones, scratch cards, E-kiosk and online payment through the AMMC website www.ammc.gov.ng.

    Okoya described the scheme as a computer-based multi-bank electronic payment solution designed for secure commercial transaction between the AMMC and its customers using the interswitch platform.

    H said: “the AMMC easy pay scheme is an online payment system introduced by the council to aid collection of various utility bills and charges; it is an alternative to the manual means of payment and offers a more convenient and faster way of clearing bills.”

    On the security of customer information and integrity of the system, the coordinator assured customers that the programme was designed in accordance with global standards, adding that clients’ financial information was safe as long as they observe basic Internet security whenever they are online.

     

  • ‘Why our bulldozers pulled down N3b estate’

    ‘Why our bulldozers pulled down N3b estate’

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed has explained why his administration rolled out bulldozers to demolish an estate valued at about N3b in the FCT.

    But his explanation suggested that the destruction of those houses had put the FCT authorities under pressure.

    When the bulldozers moved into the sprawling Minanuel Estate, pulling down the nearly completed housing units said to be about 500, the operation elicited a backlash.

    The developers mobilised and staged a protest, querying the FCT administration’s action and intentions.

    Other interested parties joined on the side of the developers, appearing to give the position of the protesters some legitimacy.

    The developers and protesters accused the Mohammed administration of not only over-reaching themselves but also pulling down the houses just to satisfy the interests of federal lawmakers. Minanuel Developers claimed to have flouted no known laws in building the houses in the Kyami District of the Federal Capital City along Airport Road.

    The position of the developers as well as the protesters and all other allied parties were duly reported.

    The FCTA has now reacted to the reports, saying that the removal of those structures was right because they were illegal and that the demolition followed due process.

    The Minister said the operation was carried out with a view to protecting the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan.

    Senator Mohammed said  in Abuja that Kyami District where the affected structures were located falls within the Phase V of the Federal Capital City, Abuja and that the law is clear on that.

    He said the FCT Development Control discovered these illegal developments at their embryo stage and swiftly served a ‘Stop Work Notice’ on August 20, 2011 with an instruction for the estate developer (Minanuel Estate) to present the title document for the plot, approved building plan as well as comprehensive development plan which the developer allegedly disregarded.

    He added  that on September 9, 2011, the FCT Development Control served the developer a ‘Quit Notice’ with further instructions to present the earlier documents requested which also apparently fell on deaf ears.

    When the developer(s) refused to respond to the notices served, the Minister said that the FCT Administration had no option but to serve a ‘Demolition Notice’ on October 3, 2011.

    It is worth mentioning that at the early stage, the FCT Administration made frantic efforts to discourage the continuation of these illegal developments by removing their sub-structures and covering the excavations but after a while, the developers went back to site and resumed illegal development at a frenzied speed, he added.

    The Minister reiterated that the FCT Development Control has full documentation of stamped notices that were served with photo clips to back them up at the time of issuance of all these notices.

    Mohammed remarked that the FCT Administration also took a pro-active step to deter unsuspecting Nigerians from falling victim to prospective fraudsters luring people into buying lands or houses in illegal estates and unrecognised layouts with fake title documents backed with fake and back-dated building plan approvals. That step, he said, involved making several announcements on both radio and television across the city.

    His words: “It was stated in the public notices and announcements that developers and buyers should beware that there was no approved plots for estate development after Lugbe FHA”.

    The Minister regretted that these illegal estate developers at Kyami District have now resorted to whipping up sentiments after refusing to heed to timely warnings by rather choosing to rush the illegal developments of the estates, hoping to legitimise an illegality.

    In order to put the records straight, Senator Mohammed further said that affected illegal structures removed include Minanuel Estate (198); Isvin Estate (13); Jo-Afra (54); Grow-Insight (6) and Unknown (25) totaling 296, a number said to be in sharp contrast with the 500 structures claimed.

    He challenged the illegal developers to present their genuine title documents to the plots as well as valid building plan approvals of the these illegal structures.

    While saying that his heart is with the affected subscribers who fell victim of illegal structure developers, the Minister urged the residents of the FCT to continue to cooperate with the FCT Administration to build a well planned, orderly and beautiful Abuja city in line with the yearnings and aspirations of its founding fathers.

    The representative of the developers, Festus Adebayo, had described the demolition as mischievous and unwarranted, adding that “the papers and other documents to support the development are valid and free from all encumberances before and after the company took possession of the land from NCR Associates in 2004.”

    It was also alleged that the estate had been re-allocated to some senators by the FCT authorities.

    Adebayo said that the demolished houses were 80 per cent completed before they were pulled down, stressing that “the company received all approvals to build and develop these destroyed residential houses which were planned to be handed over to owner-contributors by the end of October, 2012.”

    He stated that no notice was issued by demolishers.

    He said that the demolished houses consisted of 372 units of three- and two-bedroom bungalows, which had over 95 per cent subscription from civil servants, aided by bank loans and mortgages.

    Adebayo said that the swiftness with which the properties were destroyed was reminiscent of military fiat.

    “It is unthinkable that residential houses designed for low income earners are destroyed in a country which has a housing deficit of over 16 million,” he explained.

    He said that the subscription for the houses was in connection with social housing under the national housing fund.

    Chairperson of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Hajia Binta Ibrahim who commiserated with Minanuel Investments, had also described the demolition as an act of economic sabotage.

    “This has defeated the present administration’s agenda on mass housing, while also discouraging private developers to participate in mass housing programmes in Nigeria.”

    Ibrahim stressed that there was no justification for the action, adding that REDAN was poised to defend Minanuel Investments as it lawfully acquired the property.

    The Director of the FCT Development Control Unit, Yahaya Yusuf said the 100 houses demolished in the Estate were illegal structures.

    Yusuf explained that the demolition became inevitable due to what he called the recalcitrant attitude of the estate developer who allegedly continued to build on the plot of land based on a backdated title documents from the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

    He noted that AMAC allocation stopped being legal documents in 2004 while the building plan approval from AMAC also lost authenticity in 2006.

    Yusuf said even after an advertisement by the FCTA that developers should stop encroaching on lands meant for other purposes for mass housing, several developers failed to yield.

    His words: “Failure of the estate developers to heed the advertorials prompted the Department to commence removal of such illegal structures.

    “This exercise affected estates belonging to Nigerian Prisons Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and Liberty Estates. Also removed from a buffer zone along Outer Southern Expressway (OSEX) where 140 illegal structures belonging to one Messrs Sunshine Estate Limited.

    The director said when the Department of Development Control noticed that developers were not complying, the sunshine estate, liberty, civil defence estate, prison service staff housing estates, among others, were demolished and were told to come forward for revalidation of their land titles at the Urban and Regional Planning Unit.

  • Complaints Commission seeks partnership with FCTA

    The sensitisation campaign mounted by the Abaji Area Council has continued  after its inauguration by the council chief, Hon Yahaya Musa Mohammed.

    The campaign which was launched as a precautionary measure against flood which ravaged some parts of the FCT and displaced millions of Nigerians. Residents of Abaji were educated on how to keep flood away from their houses.

    The experts, who were going from house to house educating the residents, urged them to stop dumping refuse in the drains because if they are blocked, water would find its way into their houses.

    They were also told to ensure the drains are sanitised regularly.