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Tag: FCT Administration

  • Wike orders crackdown on quack hospitals in FCT

    Wike orders crackdown on quack hospitals in FCT

    … Reminds pregnant women of free health insurance scheme

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Saturday directed a total clampdown on unregistered hospitals and quack medical personnel operating in the FCT.

    Wike said henceforth, anyone found to be operating or working in unregistered health facilities should be arrested and prosecuted.

    The FCT gave the directive while reacting to the death of a pregnant woman at Afolmi Hospital, a private health facility located in Durumi, Abuja, following a caesarean section.

    Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement that it was unfortunate that despite the free registration of pregnant women into the Federal Capital Territory Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS), most pregnant women were still not taking advantage of the scheme.

    He said; “In the FCT, vulnerable persons, including pregnant women enjoy free enrollment into the FHIS, which allows them free access, through the Primary Health Care (PHC) Centres, to all services covered in the Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS).

    “Also, in alignment with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and demonstration of the Wike-led FCTA zero tolerance for maternal mortality, several hospitals in the FCT, including Gwarinpa, Nyanya, Abaji, and Kuje General Hospitals; have been designated as Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (CEONC) centers. These facilities also offer cesarean sections free of charge.

    “Our pregnant women are once again urged to take advantage of this free health insurance scheme and stop visiting quack medical personnel and unregistered health facilities”.

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    It should be recalled that yesterday, Chekwube Chinagorom, a 35-year-old woman, was brought in dead to Asokoro District Hospital.

    She was reported to have died, following a Caesarean section, at Afolmi Hospital, Durumi, Abuja, an unregistered private facility operating in a substandard and unsafe medical environment.

    She had been delivered of a live baby, who was subsequently referred to Asokoro District Hospital for care.

    Investigation conducted by the Private Health Establishments Registration and Monitoring Committee (PHERMC) revealed that Afolmi Hospital was not duly registered.

    At the time of inspection, only one staff member, Mr. Simon Elisha Godiya, who identified himself as a Junior Community Health Extension Worker (JCHEW) was present on duty.

    Mr. Godiya reported that the surgical operation was performed by one Murtala Jumma in conjunction with another unidentified individual.

    All attempts to reach Murtala Jumma via phone were unsuccessful.

    Shortly after the PHERMC team arrived at the facility, a detachment of officers from the Nigeria Police, Durumi Divisional Headquarters, also arrived.

    The case was immediately handed over to the Police for further investigation.

  • Gosa dumpsite road for expansion

    In a bid to ensure free movement of trucks in and out of Gosa dumpsite, Permanent Secretary of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa has indicated that FCT Administration would soon expand the dumpsite road to make for easy truck movement in the dumpsite area.

    The Permanent Secretary disclosed this during an inspection tour of Gosa dump site and WUPA Sewage Treatment Plant along Airport Road.

    Ohaa, who expressed satisfaction with the state of the dumpsite, in a statement issued by his press Secretary, Tony Odey, further revealed that the visit would afford him the opportunity to have first-hand information on the state of the dumpsite and make swift intervention where necessary.

    He said, “I am very much pleased with what I have seen here so far. No doubt, we are doing tremendous work and we hope to surpass whatever feat we have achieved.

    “We will ensure we expand the road in order to ensure free movement of trucks going into the dumpsite.”

    According to the Permanent Secretary, the FCT administration would continue to work assiduously to ensure that all the critical infrastructures are in functional state.

    He also revealed that in order to sustain the tremendous feats, the administration has recorded across all sectors, he would ensure the culture of succession plan is instituted.

    The Permanent Secretary was accompanied by Cordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) Malam Shuaibu Umar and Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Mrs. Omolola Olanipekun and other management staff.

  • FCT bans herdsmen, hawkers, others in Abuja

    FCT bans herdsmen, hawkers, others in Abuja

    The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammad Bello has restated that begging, street hawking, cattle grazing and commercial motorcycle (Okada) remain banned. It said the ban must be enforced by the security agents.

    Bello said this after an emergency FCT Security Committee meeting held in Abuja on Monday.

    According to him, the FCT Administration will continue to collaborate with the security agencies to ensure that the ban is made effective.

    Bello said that the institutions must be strengthened to carry out their statutory duties in line with the Change agenda of the Federal Government.

    He, however, commended the security community in the FCT for the high-level intelligence sharing that had so far assisted the administration to nip in the bud any security breach in the territory.

    The committee condemned the illegal attempt by some criminals who stormed the Vocational and Rehabilitation Centre, Kuchiko in Bwari Area Council, trying to rescue some of the inmates following the arrest of 687 beggars/destitute.

    The committee also decried the illegal use of uncompleted buildings by destitute people, miscreants and criminals in the city, warning that owners of such property would be held responsible for any security breach traced to their property.

    The minister reiterated that owners of such uncompleted buildings must provide security in and around such property and also ensure the cleanliness of the surrounding areas.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, FCT Police Commissioner, Commandant, Guards Brigade, Garrison Commander, heads of Navy and Air Force in the FCT and Director of FCT DSS attended the meeting.

    Others were Chairmen of the six FCT Area Councils, Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) as well as Mandate Secretaries, Ona of Abaji and the heads of para-military organs in the FCT.

  • Wanted: An activist FCT administration

    Wanted: An activist FCT administration

    It was Charles de Gaulle that said, “Men are great only if they are determined to be so”. It is apparent that the FCT has not been so lucky in having ministers determined to be great and reproduce (at least if they cannot surpass) the achievements of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai regarding the administration of the city affairs. The following questions you hear these days are troubling and shameful: Who is the FCT Minister? Why is Abuja becoming dirty and disorganised? The level of mediocrity and impunity that has overtaken this beloved city since 2007 is unprecedented and saddening. For architects and allied professionals like me, the reckless distortion of the FCT Masterplan, organisation and administration is disheartening.

    It is a fact that the best administration or measure that mitigated the spiralling decay in the FCT was the Obasanjo/El-Rufai partnership between 2003 and 2007. The partnership confronted the corruption, impunity and recklessness that they had met entrenched in the system. They adopted a “no-nonsense” and “no friend-of-the-status-quo” approach to achieve results. Mallam El-Rufai developed and perfected a system that was on its way to making Abuja a truly modern capital city like Johannesburg and Abu-Dhabi.

    Since most of us voted for Buhari, we had and still have great hope that it is possible to re-enact the spirit of El-Rufai as regards the FCT administration. So let us give the present FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammed Bello the benefit of the doubt. Though, I must say that lots of Nigerians are disappointed that no visible plan of action has been seen yet. It is expected that the. President would form a powerful partnership with the minister just as President Obasanjo did with El-Rufai. I have great liking for PMB and utmost confidence in his ability to bring change to the FCT and Nigeria. The FCTA ought to be chaired by the President as governor as provided by law while the minister should serve as the Minister of State just as he is doing with the Petroleum Ministry.

    Our beloved Capital City Territory has degenerated to the extent that the President will need to declare an emergency for the re-birth and renewal of the FCT in its entirety from the septic corruption in the FCDA where officials make it difficult for registered professionals to thrive as evident in the development of non-fancied, non-iconic buildings in the city, to the allocation of visible green areas to Mosques/Churches. For instance, it is in the public domain that the former administration allocated a plot of land to a popular church in Apo which was later discovered not to be originally designed for a religious institution and has become a contentious issue now.

    Another impunity is in the allocation of green areas to selected individuals for the development of an Event Centre and a Mosque for Wuye District Muslim Community. Another gloomy example is the allocation of a corridor between Federal Ministry of Finance and the Yobe State House along Ralph Shodeinde Street in the Central Business District to a car dealer where cars are now being sold, thus constituting a security risk to the Finance Ministry at this time when we should be more security-conscious.

    Allocation of plots to influential politicians, military personnel, civil servants, etc., for gardens is now the practice, where permanent structures are erected as event centres, restaurants, car-sales depots, etc. Even the existing spaces allocated for gardens are not properly maintained. For instance, the Asika Ukpabi Gardens in Wuse Zone 5 has degenerated so far that it has become a den of thieves. This garden was commissioned by the then President Obasanjo/El-Rufai.

    One will feel terribly disappointed that it had to take Senator Dino Melaye and his colleagues from the Senate to alert the FCT Minister on the abuse of the green areas in Maitama along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway/IBB Boulevard, opposite the Aguiyi Ironsi Barracks. Of recent, a director in the FCT was openly embarrassed on a national TV as being part of the beneficiaries of the lawlessness that has characterised this projected modern city, for erecting his personal house on that same green area.

    The FCT Minister should dismantle all the structures of mediocrity put in place by the immediate past FCT administration, so that he can achieve the expected results. It is worrisome that the Central Business District of Sandton in Johannesburg was created in the mid-70s almost at the same time as FCT Abuja. Can you compare the status of that beautiful district of Sandton with our beloved Central Area, Maitama or the almighty Asokoro District?

    One of my professional suggestions is that the original masterplan and the approved revisions as approved by the President/Ministers should be mass-reproduced and made available to the general public. This will curb arbitrariness in the FCT. This will help the public, especially professionals to be on guard against potential abuses and become reflex whistle blowers against the mafia in the system. There is need to also dismantle and re-organise the development control, AGIS and other agencies of the FCT. There should be a seamless system of approval for land and design approvals in the FCT in collaboration with Architects, Town Planners (NIA, NSE, NITP, etc) in generating consulting firms to form a body for design approval and development control.

    Concerted efforts should be made to complete major districts around the precinct of developed areas and zones like Durumi, Wuye, Mpape, Life Camp, Kado and Lugbe district that shame us a nation. We need to open up the satellite towns by putting in place first-class facilities and using international standard class contractors. There is need to create an Abuja disciplinary or orientation body like KAI in Lagos but must be PPP-driven to prevent it from being moribund within a short period. The body will regularly educate Abuja residents on cleanliness, courtesy on road usage, work against uncivilised behaviour like posting of posters on bridges, trading on the road/under bridges, etc.

    We need to design and construct modern car parks, markets with adequate parking lots and international airport. There is also need to enforce the design of modern malls by individual developers in the FCT instead of box-like structures currently being labelled as malls or plazas springing up all over the city. The so-called malls within the city must be properly insured. The FCT Minister should take a look at the recently-proposed almost $1billion airport to be constructed in Senegal and use it as an inspiration to actualise Mallam El-Rufai’s dream of building a modern state of the art airport, meant to be the best in Africa.

    Finally, the FCT Minister should convene a conference of stakeholders, professionals in the built environment, officials of the Ministry of Environment, etc., to brainstorm on the best way of actualising a dream of a befitting capital city for us as a nation.

     

    • Alonge is a Chartered Architect.
  • Abuja security is paramount to us – Minister

    Abuja security is paramount to us – Minister

    The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has given assurance that the FCT Administration will continue to support the security agencies in the Federal Capital Territory in order to effectively discharge their duties.

    Bello said this while receiving the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ekwe Ibas, who paid him a working visit on Monday in Abuja.

    Bello said that everything should be done to protect lives and property, adding that the security of Abuja is paramount to the FCT Administration.

    He stressed that Abuja, being the seat of government of Nigeria and the “window’’ through which the world viewed Nigeria, needed to be well secured.

    He said that no effort should spare to ensure adequate security of lives and property of both residents and visitors to the FCT.

    Bello emphasized that security agents were stakeholders in the Abuja project; stressing that the FCT Administration would continue to collaborate with them in this onerous task.

    The minister noted that his administration would partner with the Nigerian Navy to play its part to further secure the territory.

    “Although, the territory is not bounded by international waters which is the primary responsibility of the Nigerian Navy, still the, Navy has a role to play.

    “The presence of the Navy in Abuja which is the seat of power calls for closer collaboration between the FCT Administration and the Navy.”

    He urged the Nigerian Navy to liaise with other security agencies to make Abuja safer.

    He said this could be done by way of intelligence sharing, to nip in the bud any security breach.

    He said that the administration was working on modalities to ease the processes by which people could easily develop their plots.

    Bello said that the administration would make the entire process easier to forestall challenges that hindered smooth development for private, public and commercial plots.

    Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, requested the FCTA to assist the Navy perfect documentation, particularly title documents on its landed property in order to attract and partner with private developers.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, Executive Secretary of FCDA and other top management staff of the FCTA attended the meeting.