The theft of electricity facilities has put the authorities at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in quite a fix, reports GBENGA OMOKHUNU.
‘We are still battling with vandals, whose activities are interrupting the seamless flow of traffic planned by the administration for the city. On the average, the FCTA replaces traffic lights three times a year, because when we replace a vandalised traffic light, the vandals come back to vandalise again and again’
Since thieves turned their attention to electricity fittings in the nation’s capital, the authorities have been worried. The administrators have an obligation to light up the city but the vandals are making things difficult. The city is thrown into darkness, increasing the frequency of not just regular crimes but also even hit and run incidents.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has decried the development, saying traffic light components are frequently stolen and vandalised, triggering traffic challenges in the capital city.
In particular, the administration while expressing serious concern over the situation, revealed that on the average it replaces traffic lights three times in a year, which costs as much as N15 million to install at a single road intersection in the city.
Making this point during a press briefing in his office, the Acting Secretary of FCT Transport Secretariat, Suleiman Abdulha-mid declared that the Administration is doing all within its powers to contain the menace.
He said, “We are still battling with vandals, whose activities are interrupting the seamless flow of traffic planned by the administration for the city. On the average the FCTA replaces traffic lights three times in a year, because when we replace a vandalised traffic light, the vandals come back to vandalise again and again.”
He disclosed that in the last two years, the Ministerial Task Force on Environmental and Traffic Matters has helped to ensure seamless traffic flow in the city as well as checkmating the activities of hit and run drivers, who are notorious in destroying installed traffic facilities. The secretary further stated that with the assistance of a standby Maintenance Team created by the Department of Traffic Management the Secretariat carried out routine monitoring and maintenance of all traffic light installations in the city and its environs.
He said the secretariat also converted all the traffic light signals from Light Emitting Diodes (LED) to solar power system, which ensures constant availability of power; adding that since the conversion, calm seems to have been restored to the infrastructure.
“We have put in place other traffic improvement measures to ensure the safety and orderly flow of traffic in the city. These include road markings, installation of traffic signs and signals, installation of delineators and other traffic control devices. Others are; provision of cat-eye road signs, construction of bus shelters, installation of red light cameras, removal of speed bumps where necessary, etc,” he stressed.
A total of 7,833 motorists were apprehended by the officials of FCT Directorate Road Traffic Services (DRTS) otherwise known as Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) for traffic light defiance and other traffic rules and regulation violations in the Territory.
According to the Director, Road Traffic Services, Wadata Aliyu Bobdinga, who made the revelation while delivering its performance report for January–December, 2016, also said no fewer than1,547 motorcycles and 199 tricycles were impounded for violating the restriction bans, while 65 illegal car marts and 66 unlicensed car wash centres were dislodged. Furthermore, he revealed that DRTS generated a total of N1, 988,121,017.81.
In a related development, the FCT Administration has so far paid the sum of N57.6 billion to contractors handling various projects in the Federal Capital Territory in the areas of water provision, roads and railway construction as well as health, education and environmental sanitation structures and services.
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello disclosed this during a press briefing, saying there has been a massive return of contractors to site following these payments.
The Minister who spoke through the Director of Treasury, Malam Isiaku Ismaila said the Administration put in place strategic plans to ensure that all on-going projects that conform to the Abuja Master were completed.
According to him, indigenous contractors who were owed N100 million and below have all been paid, especially those with matured bills that were provided for in the statutory budget, adding that funding for these payments were mobilised through transparency, diligent and judicious management of funds without leakages in the system.
He said, “627 indigenous contractors being owed N100m and below, who have matured bills and which provisions were made in the statutory budget were paid the sum of N6.9b in the last quarter of 2016. Another N3.3b billion has been paid to 403 other contractors with bills less than 100 million in the first quarter of 2017’.
“Happily, from the last quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2017, the number of liability is coming down, in fact more than 50 per cent because there were some that their bills were not matured as at the time we were making payments in December. So, we felt that every contractor within the statutory year who has been able to perform and shown good faith on site is able to raise bills’.
He added that Road construction, city cleaning and environmental sanitation are being given adequate attention by the current FCT Administration as they are seen as very critical to the capital city.
The Minister also disclosed that funds have been fully released for the health insurance scheme of all FCTA workers, while all counterpart funds have been appropriately paid to development partners of the FCTA.
Bello said the FCT Administration has also taken very seriously the issue of Pensioners’ outstanding arrears which he said have been paid up-to-date. ‘The current FCT Administration so far has released some N2.3 billion for this purpose. All forms of entitlements to retirees under the FCT Administration have been paid up to date with no arrears at all’.
“The FCT Administration has also reinvigorated the school feeding programme. Some N980m has been disbursed towards feeding of students under the FCT Secondary Education Board.”
He disclosed that in order to access funds for counterpart projects in the FCT, the Administration has so far made payments of N2.4 billion being part of its obligation to on-going counterpart projects.
Malam Bello revealed the FCT Administration has so far released the sum of N7.009 billion to contractors handling the Abuja light rail project, adding that the first phase of this project would be completed and ready for use by January 2018.
