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Tag: Bala Mohammed

  • Minister effects shake-up at board

    Minister effects shake-up at board

    •Plans town hall meeting for stakeholders

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, approved yesterday the re-organisation of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

    He appointed Mr. Baba Shehu Lawan as the  acting director.

    Mohammed made the changes during the bi-weekly FCT Operational Briefing Session (OBS) in Gwarinpa.

    Until his appointment, the new acting director of AEPB was a deputy director, Parks and Tree Maintenance in the Department of Parks and Recreation of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC).

    The re-organisation  affected the former acting director, Mrs. Aisha Adebayo; three deputy directors and one assistant director, who were redeployed out of the board.

    As part of the re-organisation, Senator Mohammed also directed the new management team of the AEPB to organise a town hall meeting with the stakeholders to address the grey areas.

    According to a statement issued by the Asst. Director/Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Sule, the minister said plans were underway to source 3,000 plastic environmental waste bins to enhance solid waste management in the FCT.

    On waste collection in estates around the FCT, the minister instructed the new management to liaise with the estate managers and residents to collect wastes in order to take off such burden from the shoulders of the Abuja Environmental Board.

    His words: “The FCT administration has started the implementation of the policy of self-service of housing estates by owners/residents association with a successful stakeholders meeting.”

    Mohammed announced the establishment of additional dumpsites at Dutse Makaranta and Bwari to ease pressure on the existing dumpsites, thereby reducing the turnaround time of waste collection vehicles.

    According to him, “we have taken possession of the Gudu Waste Transfer Station site and it has been handed over to the contractors.”

    He said to improve solid waste collection in the Federal Capital City, the FCT administration has begun night operation by the City Cleaning Contractors, which has enhanced city sanitation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Minister counsels journalists on professionalism

    Minister counsels journalists on professionalism

    IN order to assist in the development of the nation, journalists have been charged to uphold the basic ethics of the profession.

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, gave the advice during the inauguration ceremony of the new executive members of the FCT Press Corps.

    He remarked that no nation could effectively grow without a mutual partnership between journalists and those in positions of authority.

    The minister, therefore, called for closer collaboration between members of the FCT Press Corps and the FCT Administration in order to achieve the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the territory.

    Recalling his days as a reporter and News Editor, he said he is aware of the numerous challenges facing the journalism profession, but however urged journalists in the country to show objectivity and sense of responsibility in carrying out their duties.

    The minister paid tribute to Jonathan for his high regard for the pen profession by appointing journalists and giving them sensitive positions in his cabinet, which has changed the face of leadership in the country.

    He also commended the out-going executive members for their maturity in handling the affairs of the Press Corps, as well as the robust relationship they have built between the FCT Administration and the Corps.

    Mohammed urged the in-coming executive members to emulate the leadership style of the Sam Ogbueifu’s  administration.

    He challenged the out-going chairman to take up higher responsibility by joining the services of the FCT Administration.

    In his address, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Comrade Chucks Ehirim, commended the minister for his close relationship with journalists and his contributions to the journalism profession.

    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Muhammad Adoke, also witnessed the occasion.

     

  • Jonathan won’t reply his detractors-Mohammed

    Jonathan won’t reply his detractors-Mohammed

    President Goodluck Jonathan will never reply his critics, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, (FCTA) Senator Bala Mohammed, declared yesterday.

    He stated that the president and his aides will ignore detractors from different parts of the country.

    Mohammed said the current administration will continue to show restraint, tolerance and accommodation despite the antics of some leaders who fan the embers of sentiment.

    He spoke yesterday when the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Mr. John Kennedy Opara, led members of the commission on courtesy visit to him.

    “President Jonathan has demonstrated that he is a leader for Nigeria and for Africa, a leader who has totally shunned sentiments by giving opportunities to Nigerians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds,” the minister noted.

    “We will continue to exercise restraint so that we don’t join issues that would put us apart. Rather, we will continue to tolerate and accommodate so that Nigeria will be a better place for everybody.

    “With our humility and modesty, we don’t join issues with leaders but sometimes we are really put aback to see statements and insinuations coming out from leaders who have benefitted seriously from this country; who have benefitted from the peace and tranquility of this country doing or saying things that will put us on a collision course; exacerbating the mistrust and suspicion within the polity is very unfortunate,” he added.

    The minister urged Nigerians to shun sentiments of religion and tribe so that the country could move forward and overcome her challenges.

    Opara commended the minister for his encouragement and support to the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission stressing that his efforts had helped in no small way in the success recorded in the pilgrimage operation over the years.

    He thanked him for allocating a prime land for the commission, notwithstanding the fact that he is a Muslim and pledged to continue to pray for him.

    Opara said that FCT has been allocated 2000 slots for this year’s Christian pilgrimage operation and called on wealthy residents of the FCTA to help those who are spiritually rich but materially poor to be able to perform the pilgrimage to Israel.

     

  • Addressing Abuja’s infrastructure challenge

    Addressing Abuja’s infrastructure challenge

    Truly, before any settlement, town or community could be termed developed, such must have a surfeit of infrastructural facilities in place. Putting the same issue in different words, a city devoid of infrastructure is like a king without a crown. This explains why experts have identified infrastructure deficit as a major constraint to Nigeria’s development. So, to address this problem, successive governments had introduced various policies aimed at bridging the gap.

    That is the case with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where the administration of Senator Bala Mohammed has been working assiduously since 2010 to provide basic infrastructure for the territory. These projects have in turn created employment opportunities for thousands of Nigerians.

    The world over, infrastructure projects are by their nature, social investments, especially in developing climes like ours. That is why the World Bank’s estimate that African governments face infrastructure investment deficit of $93billion annually calls for serious concern from all and sundry.

    To resolve this issue, some stakeholders  have canvassed for a speedy passage of  the “Development  Planning and Project Continuity  Bill” currently before the National Assembly,  which would make it mandatory for every government in Nigeria to continue the implementation of projects initiated by the past administration(s).

    When passed into law, the Bill would also make development planning compulsory for all tiers of government in Nigeria as a means of creating coherence and measurable targets in developmental initiatives by all governments, to facilitate the expeditious achievement of the goals set out by government.

    In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Bala Mohammed-led administration has been working round-the-clock to provide roads, bridges, sewages, potable water, housing, schools and hospitals for both indigenes and residents of the nation’s capital city. In this regard, the entire FCT has been divided into districts, which have also been grouped into development phases to wit: Phases 1 to 4. These are to make provision of these essential facilities easier, orderly and faster.

    Phase 1 has all the districts with the exception of Guzape fully developed with infrastructure. The districts include: Asokoro (Cadastral Zone A04); Central Business (Cadastral A04); Garki 1 District (Cadastral Zone A03), Guzape Cadastral Zone A09); Maitama District (Cadastral Zone A05 and AO6); Wuse District (Cadastral Zone AO3) and Wuse 11 District (Cadastral Zone AO3).

    Similarly, Phase 2, which has most of the districts developed include: Durumi, Utako, Jabi, Wuye, Kado, Mabuchi, Katampe (& Katampe Ext), Jahi, Dakibiya, Kaura, Duboyi, Gaduwa and Dutse.

    Phase 3 has Gwarimpa, Galadima, Dakwo, Lokogoma, Wumba, Saraji, Kabusa, Okanji, Pyakasa, Nbora and Karma.

    While phase 4 district, which is still being developed include: Karsana, Sabon gida, Idu, Idogwari, Kaba, Kajini, Ketti, Shertti Cheche, Waru-Pouma, Gwari, Bude, Chafe, Jaite, Mamusa, Burum and Purfun.

    Above all, there are suburban districts. These are districts that are not within the Federal Capital City (FCC), but because of their proximity to the FCC, have attracted some development, with thousands of those who work in the FCC residing there. These include: Kubwa, Gwagawalada, Karu, Jikwoyi, Lugbe, Chika, Kuchigworo, Mpape and Dei-Dei.

    Apart from tackling the problematic issue of land racketeering, the Abuja Light rail and the Abuja-Kaduna railway projects (Lots 1A and 3) embarked upon by the incumbent FCT administration is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2015, which will transport a total of 700,000 passengers daily. While these projects are equally expected to create thousands of business opportunities, plans for mono-rail project have reached an advanced stage.

    Provision of engineering infrastructure worth N61,194,747,645.00 through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) for Katampe District is currently on-going, while that of Kagini 1 District is estimated at N52,609,879,284.47 and Maitama Extension District expected to gulp N23,650,000,000. These massive projects will provide 70,000 kilometres of road network of diverse categories, including bridges, culverts, drainage systems, water, sewage, electricity and communication facilities.

    To actualize this vision, the FCTA has entered into series of agreements with Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), an agency of the federal government set up to boost investment in infrastructure by the private sector through PPP.

    It is a well known fact that the concept of PPP in the provision of social infrastructure is all about leveraging  the capacity and the skill, nay efficiency of the private sector to enhance delivery of social services such as education, health, shelter and security.

    A lot has equally been achieved in the area of provision of potable water with the recent commissioning of completed work on Tanks 1 and 6 with 40,000 cubic centimeters storage capacity; reconstruction and expansion of the country’s most modern 10-lane multiple carriage super-highways: the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Airport Road) expressway; the Outer Northern (Murtala Mohammed) Expressway otherwise known as the Zuba/Kubwa/City Centre highway as well as the dualization of the Nyanya-Abuja Expressway.

    In the same vein, several major inter-changes at AYA; Banex-Jahi/Mabushi link; Gwarimpa 11 Junction-Kado/Life Camp Junction; Karmo/Utako have been completed and commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    To extend development to satellite towns, the administration, following the approval of the president, has re-established the FCT Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA). With this agency as handmaiden, the administration has extended its Midas touch to the satellite towns.

    Strenuous efforts of the administration has led to the attraction of over $20billion investments in Abuja; and in a drive to make the city the preferred investment destination in Africa, a 37-storey World Trade Centre, estimated at $1.2billion is being built at the Bakassi Market under PPP arrangement with Churchgate Group.

    The most audacious policy of the FCT administration is the land swap policy premised at ceding lands to private investors in lieu of provision of critical infrastructure for Abuja city centre and adjoining districts and satellite towns. Now doubt, if the current efforts are sustained, Abuja will certainly become one of the most developed capital cities in the world in the foreseeable future.

     

    • Ochela is an Abuja-based media consultant.

     

  • Curbing the menace of land speculators in Abuja

    Curbing the menace of land speculators in Abuja

    In Nigeria today, there is no state or city where the menace of land speculation is as pronounced as the Federal Capital City. For want of a better expression, their activities have made land ownership a nightmare for potential investors in the nation’s capital city. The situation has become so bad to the extent that incidences of double or multiple land allocations  and wanton abuse of Abuja’s master plan has become the norm rather that the exception.

    That the disturbing incidence has persisted till date is not due to lack of attempts by the FCT administration to curb it. Far from it! Successive administrations in FCT have made several attempts to halt the menace with little success. Each time policies are rolled out to curb the activities of land speculators, the criminals involved would always evolve their own strategies to circumvent such government’s policies.

    If truth must be told and even orchestrated, thousands of Nigerians have fallen victims to the dangerous activities of land speculators in Abuja, with scores of them losing precious properties worth millions of naira, including lives in the process. Some became hypertensive, while others have become living corpses as a result of the rapacious greed of these elements.

    That the incidence of land speculation is still very much on in Abuja is not in doubt. And that it is being fuelled by the greed of some desperadoes is equally not in contention. But what is however disturbing in the entire saga is the cutting of corners or worse still, the flouting of laws to dubiously acquire lands for amorphous land development purposes.

    It would be recalled that the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed at the 34th Leadership Forum put together by Nigerian Pilot and its sister publication, Nigerian Newsworld magazine sometime this year, had expressed serious worry about the pernicious activities of land speculators, which he said had become a cog in the wheel of progress, especially in land administration in Abuja.

    According to the minister, when he took over the driver’s seat at FCTA in 2011, land speculators were seen as the real landlords of Abuja who were doing their illegal businesses with reckless impunity; he however stressed that worried by this development, his administration decided to frontally tackle the menace with the setting up of Senator Saidu Dansadau Committee with a view to breaking their vicious stranglehold on land administration in the territory. Thereafter, he digitalized the system, which led to the enthronement of accountability in land administration in the FCT.

    To further prove that he meant well for the FCT, the FCT Minister deliberately decided to empower all plot owners by granting them titles, a development that has gone a long way in boosting the confidence of investors in the territory’s land administration.

    The minister’s commendable efforts notwithstanding, some dubious smart alecs masquerading as land agents (read speculators) have been working assiduously to frustrate such laudable efforts, a development that has led to the avoidable friction between the FCDA and some estate developers like Minannuel Estate Developers and Saraha Estate in Galadima, along Kubwa Expressway in recent times, all of which fell under the weight of government’s bulldozers, a development that generated stormy criticisms of epic proportions from a segment of the society.

    That the FCT administration is favourably disposed to having private sector acquire lands for the purpose of providing houses for the people does not mean that when such developers breach the laws of the land with impunity, the authority should turn blind eyes to it. Because if such abuse of processes leading to land acquisition is allowed to persist, Nigerians may wake up to find out that Abuja has been turned into a jungle. May that not be the portion of our beloved capital city!

    To forestall such possibility and further reduce the fraud associated with land administration in the territory, the FCT minister has injected transparency and good governance into Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) as epitomized in the introduction of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The transformation of the agency via computerization of ‘’spatially related work flows in selected departments and agencies and the build-up of AGIS Resource Centre’’ is a strategic effort geared towards this direction.

    It would be recalled that the minister’s determination to tackle the menace of land speculation was further manifested when some of his aides were caught in land malpractices. What did he do? He promptly fired them and handed them over to the security agencies for prosecution. That is a commendable act of seriousness on his part.

    Experts in land administration and other unbiased developers are of the opinion that whatever the minister and his aides have been doing in the area of land administration is hinged on the spectacular pillar of abiding fidelity to Abuja’s Original Master Plan. Judging from his body language thus far, the minister has shown that as far as sticking to Abuja’s master plan is concerned, he is not willing to compromise. And that explains his persistent nay rugged determination to give land speculators a bloody nose and to throw them out of business once and for all.

    Agreed, the administration has not totally succeeded in clinically eliminating this group of economic saboteurs from Abuja’s landscape, but it has taken the battle to their doorsteps with an all-round impressive transformation of land administration through AGIS under the directorship of Hajiya Jamila Tangaza.

    • Ochela, contributed this piece from Bwari Abuja

     

  • Boko Haram: FCT Minister orders stricter security in public places

    Boko Haram: FCT Minister orders stricter security in public places

    To enhance security of lives and property, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Bala Mohammed yesterday directed the managements of public and private institutions in Abuja to develop comprehensive security plans to forestall any attack by insurgents.

    Mohammed said there was the need for proactive measures by all stakeholders to avert further terror attacks in the FCT.

    The minister gave the directive at the end of an emergency meeting of the top management of the FCT Administration chaired by him.

    Others in attendance at the meeting, which took place in the minister’s Conference Hall, Area 11, Garki District, Abuja include the FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, the FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu, the Chief Staff to the FCT Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Yau Gital, the Special Adviser to the Minister on Security, Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Mandate Secretaries, Senior Special Assistants, Special, Directors, Heads of FCT Agencies and parastatals and other top management officers of the FCT Administration.

    According to a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, the meeting was to review security situation in the FCT against the backdrop of the recent Nyanya twin bomb blasts and threat of further attacks.

    The public gathering places affected by the ministerial directive include motor parks, restaurants, markets, supermarkets, shopping malls and centres, drinking joints, parks and gardens, banks, churches, mosques, hotels, viewing centres and hospitals etc.

    Apart from installing separate close circuit televisions (CCTVs), they are required to liaise with appropriate security agencies and engage well trained uniformed security personnel who shall be equipped with bomb detectors. He directed that all entry and exit routes to such places must be adequately captured by the CCTV cameras and be manned by well equipped security personnel.

    The minister advised residents to shun public viewing centres especially during the forthcoming football World Cup as such places are among soft targets of terrorists.

    The managements of the places of gathering are expected to strictly comply with the security requirements for the running of public places in the FCT.

    According to the minister, those who fail to comply with the directive would face severe sanctions, which may include sealing off of the institutions.

    The minister has set up an Ad-hoc committee to formulate comprehensive security requirements for public places in the FCT.

    The committee headed by the Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Reuben Okoya, has among its members the Special Adviser to the Minister on Security, the Director of Security, the General Counsel, the Managing Director of Abuja Markets Management Limited, the Director of Engineering of the FCDA, the Secretaries of Transportation, Area Council and Social Development Secretariats as well one representative each from the offices of the Minister of State and the Permanent Secretary of FCT.

     

    Mohammed urged FCT residents to be vigilant and security conscious. He urged them to constitute security committees and vigilantes in their neighbourhoods.

    The minister also directed the FCT Transportation Secretariat to ensure strict enforcement of the ban of unpainted cars (kabukabus) for commercial purposes in the FCT. He called on residents to avoid patronising the kabukabus in the interest of their own security and safety.

     

     

  • FCT minister loses mom

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    The death has been announced of Hajiya Aishatu Mohammed, mother of the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Senator Bala Abdukadir Mohamed.

    She died on Wednesday at about 11 o’clock in the morning at the age of 81 years.

    Hajiya Aishatu, wife of the late Sarkin Duguri Mohammed Yusuf, described as ‘’mother to all’’ died at her Sokoto street residence in Bauchi, the state capital of protracted illness, besides ailments associated with advanced age.

    The FCT Minister’s mother, returned to Bauchi last Saturday after performing the lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia with her elder son, Alhaji Adamu Yahaya, who is also the District Head of Duguri, in Alkaleri Local Government area of Bauchi state.

    She is survived by four children among whom are Alhaji Adamu Yahaya, [Wakilin Bauchi] District Head of Duguri, Sen. Bala Abdukadir Mohammed, the FCT Minister, Hajiya Hauwau and Hajiya Asmau.

    Also left behind to mourn her, are her 31 grand children. And has since been buried according to Islamic rites in Bauchi, after funeral prayers led by the Bauchi Chief Imam, Alhaji Bala Babban Innah at the Emir of Bauchi’s palace.

  • Nyanya Park to be relocated

    Nyanya Park to be relocated

    •Minister asks relatives to claim corpses of blast victims

    As a way of solving the perennial traffic gridlock on the Nyanya border area of the Keffi-Nyanya-Abuja express road, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has resolved to build a new motor park.

    The new park will be within a reasonable distance from the expressway while all buildings, shops and business premises located along the road corridor in the area would be demolished immediately in overriding public interest.

    FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, disclosed this yesterday after an inspection of the scene of Thursday’s bomb blast in Nyanya satellite town.

    The minister further disclosed that an integrity test would be carried out on the Nyanya interchange (flyover bridge) to ascertain its current structural strength in the aftermath of the two successive terrorist bomb attacks near the foot of the bridge. He also pleaded with relatives of the bereaved to step forward and claim the bodies of their loved ones in the various hospital morgues in FCT.

    He disclosed that work would commence at the new motor park within the next one week. He added that a team comprising top officials of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), the FCT departments of Urban and Regional Planning, Survey and Mapping, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, the Transportation Secretariat, the Abuja Municipal Area Council, security officials and other relevant professionals has been put in place to facilitate a speedy construction and opening of the new park together with the removal of all encumbrances.

    While calling on those who lost their dear ones in the bomb blasts to come up and claim their remains, Mohammed stressed that all government mortuary facilities in FCT have been overstretched. He said the FCTA was ready to provide logistics supports such as free ambulance services for conveying the remains to any part of the country for burial. He also disclosed that the FCTA has reached agreement with the Police authorities with clearance secured for the release of the victims’ corpses.

    In order to decongest the general hospitals in the Territory, the minister said that FCTA has decided to bear the cost of treating all indigent patients on admission in the FCT hospitals for other ailments beside injuries from the bomb blast.

    Secretary of Health and Human Services of FCTA, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya, had earlier told the minister that while many of the corpses from the first blast were yet to be claimed by relatives for burial, all the 20 corpses in the second blast are equally lying in the various mortuaries. He said the death toll of Thursday’s blast has risen to 20.

    While admitting that the swelling population of FCT particularly in areas like Nyanya has remained a big challenge, the minister said the FCT Administration was doing its best in synergy with the various security agencies to deepen security intelligence in the Nation’s capital. He appealed to the residents to continue to be vigilant and to always volunteer useful security information to the Police and other security agencies.

     

    Those who accompanied the minister on the visit include the FCT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, the Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu, the Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Yau Gital, the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, FCT Command, Alhaji Abdullahi Kofarsoro, the representative of the FCT Commissioner of Police and many others.

     

  • Nyanya blast: FCT Minister visits Asokoro hospital, condemns attack

    Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has condemned Thursday evening’s bomb blast along the Nyanya road corridor which claimed not less than 12 lives and left others injured.

    Speaking when he visited the Asokoro District Hospital, Thursday night where some of the injured victims were receiving treatment, the Minister decried the act as inhuman and  urged  all residents of the FCT to be security and safety conscious always.

    While condoled  with the families of those who died and commiserated with the injured.

    The Minister  described the incident as a serious emergency and assured FCT residents that the government and the security agencies were alert to ensure that they are safe and secure.  

    While appealing to residents to be calm and vigilant while going about their lawful duties, he stated that, “what happened is an incident that could not be foreseen. Normally, insurgency and are occurrences that are difficult to predict.”

    He directed that adequate emergency services, free medical treatment and succor including feeding be provided for the victims.

    Senator Bala Mohammed also stated that the perpetrators of the dastardly cannot succeed in destabilizing Nigeria stressing that Nigerians would emerge stronger and more united from the current challenge posed by terrorists.

    He therefore urged all residents to unite with one accord against terror. He also sued for more cooperation with the law enforcement by giving them information and assistance adding that the war against terror is the responsibility of all.

    Those who were with the Minister during the visit include the FCT Permanent Secretary, Engr. John Chukwu, the Chief of Staff to the Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Yau Gital and Secretary of Health, FCTA, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya and others.

  • Jonathan gives three districts to FCT workers

    Jonathan gives three districts to FCT workers

    President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that three districts be allocated for housing schemes for workers in the Federal Capital Territory, the Minister, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, said.
    Mohammed announced the decision at a May Day rally in Abuja on Thursday, adding that the president directed that the houses should be made affordable.
    “In the recent time, Mr. President has commissioned more workers’ housing estates in the life of this nation; this can also be said in other sectors of the economy, such as health and education, among others ,’’ he said.
    The minister said the FCT Administration recently gave out 200 plots as Long Service Award to some of its employees who served meritoriously.
    He said that plans had been made to institutionalise the award.
    However, he said that the FCT Administration had been working assiduously to boost workers’ morale through various welfare programmes and incentives.
    Mohammed said the administration had adopted measures to check congestion at healthcare facilities in the territory arising from the influx of people.
    “In the light of this, scores of specialised medical and para-medical personnel have been recruited for this purpose.
    “As a worker-friendly administration, a Ministerial Committee on Hazard allowance has been constituted to address dangers being faced by some of our staff who perform duties that are considered hazardous,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the minister as saying at the forum.
    Mohammed pledged government’s determination to continue to explore ways to create a favourable environment for workers to give their best in effort to build a just and equitable society.
    He said the security challenges facing FCT residents would be addressed to ensure safety for law abiding citizens.