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  • What Wike should do as FCT minister, says by Ugwu

    What Wike should do as FCT minister, says by Ugwu

    A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Charles Ugwu, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made the right choice in assigning the portfolio of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister to the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

    He has therefore urged Nigerians to give massive support to the minister.

    According to Ugwu, Nigerians, particularly, indigenes, workers and residents of the FCT needed a man like Wike to drive and deliver the capital city from all forms of encumbrances.

    In a statement titled ‘Let Wike breathe’, which he personally signed and released to the media on Tuesday, Ugwu, an Abuja-based lawyer and businessman, said that given the exemplary development strides witnessed in Rivers under Wike, President Tinubu couldn’t have made a better choice in picking the former Governor to reenact his Rivers miracle in Abuja.

    According to Ugwu, Tinubu had made a right choice in Wike’s appointment and portfolio, who he said has the courage to shape the capital city in line with its original master plan.

    “Abuja needs a man like His Excellency, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is courageous enough to walk his talk, to run its affairs at this point in time,” Ugwu declared, insisting that Wike needs the support of Nigerians to enable him focus on his work and reenact in Abuja his development miracle in Rivers, not the name-calling that seems to be the case now.

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    “FCT needs a man like Wike to maintain its decaying social infrastructure as well as add new ones so that wherever citizens live within the FCT, they will enjoy as much quality infrastructure as in the city centre.

    “Politics apart, it is time for all of us to join hands to rebuild our nation thoroughly battered under the immediate past federal administration,” Ugwu emphasized.”

    Ugwu defended Wike for his stance against illegal buildings and settlements in Abuja, adding that Nigerians must enthrone discipline in all spheres of life. 

    “Cities, towns, others are planned and built according to such plans so that people will not only enjoy the beauty of such planned cities and or towns, even countries as a whole, but also live in safety,” he observed.

    “We are all witnesses to how floods, for instance, constantly ravage our cities and rural communities. This is in most part due to the haphazard erection of buildings in our cities, a lot of them blocking drainages. This must not be allowed to happen not only in Abuja but also in any other part of the country.

    “People must be disciplined enough to do due diligence on lands they want to buy so they don’t get duped by unscrupulous speculators who dump illegal property on them only for them to build and see their property destroyed. If you do not follow the city’s master-plan and build haphazardly, why would your property not be demolished?”

    He took umbrage at people throwing brickbats at Wike for sounding a note of warning on illegal structures, describing such vituperations as unfair and stemming from “undue partisanship which should have been put aside after the elections.”

    “Politics apart, it is time for all of us to join hands to rebuild our nation thoroughly battered under the immediate past federal administration,” Ugwu emphasized.

  • Tinubu has confidence in me to manage FCT, says Wike

    Tinubu has confidence in me to manage FCT, says Wike

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike on Monday, September 11, told staff of the FCT Administration that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has confidence in him to manage the affairs of the nation’s capital.

    Wike warned contractors handling the rehabilitation of 135 roads in the capital city and civil engineering services against contract variations.

    The former Governor of Rivers State who said this while inaugurating a road project in Abuja disclosed that the projects would be completed in six months.

    According to him, FCT will pay all the contractors their money to enable them to complete the project within the agreed timeline.

    Wike said: “The President has confidence in me that is why he sent me to FCT. Tinubu has said we should assure you of renewed hope.

    Read Also: Tinubu celebrates Igbinedion on 89th birthday

    “To the contractors, let me warn you now, all these things you are doing with engineering services will not work again.

    “Nothing like variation; it will not work. Kobo, one naira, in the next seven days it becomes N15, it will not work again. It will not work, so don’t even try it. There is no variation in this job.

    “We have the money to pay you. So, if you like to go to engineering services and do anything with them, it will not work.

    “We are paying you your money and I assure you that nobody will owe you a dime. We are going to pay you and you must finish within the time we have agreed with you”.

    He also warned the Permanent Secretary of FCT Administration, Olusade Adesola not to bring any paper asking for a reconsideration or a file for unanticipated issues, saying that “everything has been considered and anticipated.”

    The minister urged residents to support the contractors to enable them to finish the job on time, adding that no development comes without some pains.

    He also solicited the support of traditional rulers to ensure that the youths and all residents of their communities support the contractors to deliver the job on time.

    Wike equally thanked the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council, Mr. Christopher Maikalangu, for publicly declaring the area council chairmen’s decision to work with the FCT Administration for the interest of FCT residents.

    Earlier, the Minister of State, FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, said that the FCT Administration has recorded significant achievements in transforming the capital city, barely three weeks after Mr Project (Wike) in office.

    Mahmoud said that the issue of streetlight has been addressed; the problem of sanitation was being attended to, and now the road infrastructure would be transformed to impact positively on the residents.

    Also, Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Adesola, said that the projects involve the rehabilitation and resurfacing of 135 existing roads and remedial works on bridges in various districts of the FCT.

    “This transformative project, according to him, will significantly impact the lives of the people of the federal capital,” he said.

    He urged the contractors to meet the timeline agreed upon for the projects to be delivered, saying: “Your money is available for payment; it is up to you to work and get paid”.

    On his part, Ahmed Hadi, Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, pointed out that a substantial number of the roads in Phase I, developed since 1980 have deteriorated.

    Hadi said that the project would involve scarification and removal of the existing asphalt in some locations while in other places it would be asphalt overlay.

    He said that the 135 roads in Wuse, Garki, and some areas in Maitama and Asokoro would be involved, covering 42 kilometres.

    “When completed, there will be enhanced traffic flow and reduction in travel time and the roads will be a bit safer,” he said.

    The Chairman House Committee on FCT, Mr Muktar Betara, expressed confidence in the ability of Wike to deliver the transformative agenda for the FCT.

    He assured the minister of the committee’s support to enable him to succeed in his task of making FCT the desired destination of all Nigerians.

    Similarly, the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, thanked the minister for taking a giant step to deliver the dividend of democracy to the residents of the city and assured him of the traditional council support.

    In his remark, Maikalangu commended Wike for the laudable feat and appealed that the gesture be extended to rural communities to complement the efforts of the six Area Councils in accelerating development in the area.

    He assured the minister of the support of the council chairmen to ensure the completion of the projects.

    Responding on behalf of the contractors, Mr Obada Zabadne, Chief Executive Officer, ZBMC Ltd, acknowledged the government’s confidence and trust to deliver quality projects.

    He assured the minister of the contractors’ commitment to achieve beyond expectations and within the agreed time.

  • I knew Obi won’t win, his supporters don’t know politics – Wike

    I knew Obi won’t win, his supporters don’t know politics – Wike

    The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has claimed that the supporters of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, do not know politics.

    The former Rivers Governor said this during an interview on Channels TV on Thursday, a day after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal upheld President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 2023 presidential election.

    He said: “I know that he [Obi] won’t win the election.

    ”Let me tell you the truth, I am a realist.

    “For me, the way the election went, it was a tough election. 

    “I give it to INEC.

    “Yes, as a young man, people would have preferred that he won but look at how the votes went.

    Read Also: Wike urges PDP to suspend Atiku, Tambuwal

    “There is this generational change, the young people were tired.

    “So, for them, the only hope they had was to vote for Obi as a younger person compared to other candidates.

    “But unknown to them, that is not the reality of Nigerian politics.

    “They didn’t take into cognisance that ethnicity is a factor.

    “They didn’t take into cognisance that religion is a factor, not only competence; that is the reality of Nigerian politics.”

  • Wike faults Ushafa-Bwari road contract variation

    Wike faults Ushafa-Bwari road contract variation

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  Nyesom Wike has declared the swelling rate of contracts variation for projects in the Territory as alarming, which is not acceptable to the current FCT Administration.

    Wike spoke  yesterday during the  inspection of on-going repair works at the Lower Usman  Dam Water Treatment plant, in Bwari Area Council, which  was shutdown for emergency repair last year

    Assuring  the people  that the FCTA is  going to overhaul the entire system, the Minister spoke of  plans to prioritise and fund ten projects, as part of the measured to check the menace of abandoned and uncompleted projects in territory.

    According to him, we are going to overhaul the entire system. I have never seen a thing like this before in my life. What you see in FCDA contract variation from N10bn to N120bn, from N50bn to N200bn. It is alarming and I am not going to accept it.

    “It was unfortunate that while we went to the Gurara road, it was very embarrassing, and this is not what they are going to take. The job was awarded in 2017 at the cost of N20bn, in 2020 the revised the contract sum to N50bn.

    “As I speak to you, we have paid almost N50bn, what is outstanding from what the man in charge has said is N900m, and now the N900m will not be enough to complete the job that they have done about 90percent and thereby we move to another variation. This is what we are not going to accept”.

    He continued:” Now, having come to the Usman Water System, I was told that the contract has been awarded as an emergency contract.  We just heard it now that it has not been awarded fully. Just a mere letter of intent to the contractor since last year August.

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    “We know the importance of this, because it supplies water to our people in the city and this environment.

    “Water is very important, so I have directed that it is not an emergency again, If something has happened since last year, you call it an emergency till now, it is no longer an emergency.

    “If at all it was an emergency, we are going to start all over, and we are going to supervise the procurement process and we will allow other companies to bid as far as this project is concerned. So, it is alarming”.

    The minister said the FCTA is choosing about 10 contracts, for which companies handling them have been called, and agreement have reached.

    “We have agreed with some companies for six months, and we have agreed with some companies for 15 months. We do not want any project that without funding, we will not have one project. Depending on the national budget is a problem.

    “Why the Executive Secretary of FCDA is not here is because I directed him not to join us and ensure that all the files are approved since last week, go to the director of Treasury and payment must be made latest tomorrow (Friday).

    “Then, we are signing with those companies, in essence, we have introduce an ISPO to bind our project to our internally generated revenue. So, at the end of every month, we will know what each company is taking and then we will know the duration of the contract will end.

    “So, we will utilize the IGR to tie it to specific projects, so that will reduce the abandoning of projects in the FCT. On Monday, we are flagging off the resurfacing of most of the roads in Garki, Maitama, because the roads are terribly bad. I will make sure that the contractors are also paid.

    “Most of the projects we are reviewing now are nothing like lack of funds, they are refunding them and as we finish that, we can take up other projects, not carry 100 projects and you cannot complete one. You should take one and finish it, then you go to another one. If not, you will see projects littered all over”.

  • FCT: Ugwu, ex-PDP presidential aspirant, rallies support for Wike

    FCT: Ugwu, ex-PDP presidential aspirant, rallies support for Wike

    A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Charles Okwudili Ugwu has canvassed massive support for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

    Ugwu, a chieftain of the leading opposition party, who hailed President Bola Tinubu for Wike’s appointment, said Nigerians, particularly, indigenes, workers and residents of the FCT should rally round the minister to deliver on his mandate.

    In a statement titled ‘Let Wike breathe’, on Tuesday, Ugwu, the Abuja-based lawyer and businessman, said that given the exemplary development strides witnessed in Rivers under Wike, President Tinubu couldn’t have made a better choice in picking the former Governor to reenact his Rivers miracle in Abuja.

    According to Ugwu, Tinubu had made a right choice in Wike’s appointment and portfolio, who he said has the courage to shape the capital city in line with its original master plan. 

    “Abuja needs a man like His Excellency, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is courageous enough to walk his talk, to run its affairs at this point in time,” Ugwu declared, insisting that Wike needs the support of Nigerians to enable him focus on his work and reenact in Abuja his development miracle in Rivers, not the name-calling that seems to be the case now. 

    “FCT needs a man like Wike to maintain its decaying social infrastructure as well as add new ones so that wherever citizens live within the FCT, they will enjoy as much quality infrastructure as in the city centre.” 

    On the alleged distortion of the Abuja Master Plan by developers, which the Minister has openly warned he will not allow to continue without a robut response from government, Ugwu maintained that the distortion could be easily seen even by untrained eyes, adding that Wike was right to warn of the impending demolition of any structure erected in violation of the master-plan, irrespective of who owns it.

    According to him, all over the world, people build according to master plans, especially according to city master-plans, and Nigeria should not be an exception.

    “Cities, towns, others are planned and built according to such plans so that people will not only enjoy the beauty of such planned cities and or towns, even countries as a whole, but also live in safety,” he observed. 

    “We are all witnesses to how floods, for instance, constantly ravage our cities and rural communities. This is in most part due to the haphazard erection of buildings in our cities, a lot of them blocking drainages. This must not be allowed to happen not only in Abuja but also in any other part of the country. 

    “People must be disciplined enough to do due diligence on lands they want to buy so they don’t get duped by unscrupulous speculators who dump illegal property on them only for them to build and see their property destroyed. If you do not follow the city’s master-plan and build haphazardly, why would your property not be demolished?”

    He took umbrage at people throwing brickbats at Wike for sounding a note of warning on illegal structures, describing such vituperations as unfair and stemming from “undue partisanship which should have been put aside after the elections.”

    “Politics apart, it is time for all of us to join hands to rebuild our nation thoroughly battered under the immediate past federal administration,” Ugwu emphasized.

    “Unfortunately, people seem to be still hurting from the defeat of their principal in Rivers and elsewhere in the past election and are still taking it out on Wike for his role in such defeat; people just haven’t learnt to let go so that we can all work together as a people move the country forward,” Ugwu, who is also the Onowu (traditional prime minister) of Igugu in Udenu LGA of Enugu State, remonstrated. 

     “I am referring to statements credited to one of the spokesmen of our presidential candidate in the February 25, 2023 election, and a former presidential aspirant like myself. I think they were wrong in the positions they took in so far as they made those statements on the basis of politics. 

    “What Wike is saying – and I agree with him – is that this is the time to join hands to develop Nigeria, not continue to play the politics of an election that has since come and gone. We must move forward. We must let Wike be so that, for the good of all of us, he can concentrate on the assignment that the president has given him to do.”

    On the reported protest by some Muslim groups against Wike’s appointment, which they contended contravened an unwritten rule that only Muslims must be appointed the FCT Minister, Ugwu, a commercial lawyer and developer, said the position of the Muslim groups did not tally with the reality of Nigeria as a federal republic governed in accordance with its constitution.

    Read Also: Residents of Sunnyvile, Kabusa cry to Wike for help on bad roads

    Reminding that that same constitution gives the president the power to appoint anyone he so pleases as minister of the FCT or that of any other Ministry for that matter, as long as the person so appointed is a fit and proper person, Ugwu declared: “I think the most important consideration should be the competence of the person so appointed, not his faith, ethnic group or State of origin and, in the consideration of most Nigerians, I believe, Wike is more than qualified and competent to hold the position of the Minister of the FCT.”

    “Indeed, I must commend President Tinubu for breaking with what had become a norm, and appointing a non-Muslim and a non-northerner as FCT Minister, if only to remind us that Nigeria is still one country where citizens, irrespective of their States of origin, religion or creed, enjoy equal rights and obligations within the territory of Nigeria,” he stressed.

    “I recall that not since Mark Okoye as Minister of State for the FCT in 1979 has any other Southerner served as the FCT Minister until Tinubu took the initiative to break with the practice whereby former presidents appointed only northern Muslims as FCT Ministers.”

    The former presidential aspirant, who is a major PDP stakeholder in the South East, urged Barrister Wike not to be distracted by the negative comments of “closet politicians” but to focus on the job at hand, so that he can creditably deliver on the assignment given to him by President Tinubu as the first non-Muslim substantive Minister of the FCT.  

  • Residents of Sunnyvile, Kabusa cry to Wike for help on bad roads

    Residents of Sunnyvile, Kabusa cry to Wike for help on bad roads

    Residents of Sunnyvile and Kabusa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have cried out to the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, to save them from the abandoned road projects that have made life unbearable.

    The residents said their road had been abandoned for over five years by contractors that only built drainages in some parts and left the road in a worse state.

    They said they had complained to the FCT government on several occasions and contributed to make the road bearable but it continued to deteriorate, causing a lot of hardship for residents and giving opportunities for hoodlums to attack residents at night.

    Residents have also advised the Minister to tour around the FCT and understand what the problems actually are rather than sticking to the reports submitted to him by staff members of the FCT.

    Chairman, Santos Estate, Dr Kunle Egbeleke said: “The contractors came and levelled the road a bit and returned years later to construct a culvert then left and never came back. I don’t know what stopped the project but I believe that if they had been mobilised, they were supposed to have finished the project two years ago.

    “It has been terrible, sometimes when you take a cab from town, some of the cab men would insist on dropping you off on the way and not your destination because of the bad road.

    Read Also: Wike goes after N34b owed FCTA

    “We suffer from a lot of repairs on our vehicles because of the road and servicing regularly which is expensive. We have complained several times to the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) but we only get promises that are never fulfilled and now we tax ourselves regularly to enable us to patch the road constantly when it gets too bad to make it a bit motorable. We patched it recently during the dry season but as soon as the rain came it got worse again.”

    He added: “Now when you leave Sunnyvile and head towards City View Estate, because the road is so bad along the vicinity, hoodlums come out from around 7.30, block the road and start robbing people.’’

    “We are calling on Wike to go round himself and check the state of the FCT because as long as the same directors are there, they would still maintain the same status quo. He should go around himself and not trust the report he is given because after over five years of the abandoned road, we are tired.

    “We would appreciate it if Wike can come to our aid. Something needs to be done because this is Abuja and Sunnyvile area is not the outskirts or suburbs but middle of Abuja so having this kind of road does not fit a place like Abuja.”

    A resident of City View Estate, Rachel Aliyu explained to our correspondent that the road is slippery and dangerous during the rainy season and too dusty in the dry season.

    She said: “The bad road is really affecting residents, the bad road and gallops spoil cars and it’s even more difficult to ply the road on motorcycles.

    “It’s difficult during harmattan because there is so much dust. When the rain comes, the road becomes very muddy and slippery. With all that the Minister has been saying, we really hope he does his best and helps us fix the road because it is very important to us.”

  • Wike goes after N34b owed FCTA

    Wike goes after N34b owed FCTA

    Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has said his administration will collect over N34 billion being owed the FCT Administration.

     The minister said this while addressing members of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the failure of mass transportation in Nigeria, during their working visit to his office in Area 11, Garki, Abuja.

     He warned allottees owing the FCTA the ground rents to either pay or have their property’s licence revoked and reallocated to those who could pay. 

    Read Also: Wike frowns at N85bn Wasa housing infrastructure, says project poorly negotiated

    Wike said: “I have calculated the debt of non-payment of ground rent, which is about N34 billion. I am going to collect all of those back. I don’t care. All I want is for the rent to be paid.

     “We will be publishing on Thursday for all those who are meant to pay their ground rent. They will be given the grace of two weeks to pay.

     “Whoever doesn’t pay, I’ll revoke it and give it to whoever will pay so that the necessary services will be rendered. People want to live in a beautiful city but don’t want to pay their dues, which is impossible.”

     The minister said his administration would tie projects to its internally generated revenue (IGR) so that contractors would be paid yearly and projects would no more be abandoned.

     Reacting to why Lagos State was succeeding in public transportation but Abuja was not, Wike noted that Lagos is a state while “the FCT is like a state”.

  • Waking up Abuja master plan

    Waking up Abuja master plan

    • By Gerald Adewole

    With the swearing-in of the new ministers, the business of governance under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fully commenced. The ministers have since assumed duty and are unveiling the policy agenda of their respective ministries. Nzenwo Nysom Wike, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), like other ministers, has hit the ground-running, with the firm promise to sanitize the capital city, restore the city to its original master plan, clean up the infrastructural decay in the city and make the city a place all Nigerians can be proud of.

    While to many, the coming of Wike as FCT Minister is a welcome relief, to others, it is heart-breaking. As the capital of Nigeria, the most populous nation in Black Africa, Abuja is expected to be Nigeria’s flagship city; a model city par excellence and the vista through which the entire world perceives Nigeria. As the seat of power, Abuja plays host to the high and the mighty, all those saddled with the responsibilities of governance at the executive, legislative and judiciary levels. It is also the primary abode for members of the diplomatic community who are on foreign missions to Nigeria. As a cosmopolitan city, Abuja is a melting pot for Nigerians from all works of life.

    Read Also: Wike vows to collect over N34bn owed FCTA

    It is in the light of the above that we must ensure that the city truly reflects the best of Nigeria’s image, in aesthetics, architectural design and sanitation, as well as in decency and orderliness. Those who conceived and designed the master plan of Abuja had in mind the vision of a model Nigerian city where all responsible citizens of Nigeria would be proud to call their capital city; and a city that foreigners would visit and affirm with sincere satisfaction that indeed, we are a decent, orderly, organized and responsible people.

    Today, that vision is far from being realized. Abuja has become a city where anything goes; a city whose beauty has been marred by illegal structures and shanties. It has become a breeding ground for cattle with its streets invaded by beggars, hawkers, homeless lunatics, “portfolio swindlers” and miscreants constituting security threat and environmental hazards. Heaps of decaying garbage dot the streets of the city oozing stench to the repulsive air.

    Night life in Abuja has become a theatre of the absurd, with the red streets flooded by half-naked young ladies openly soliciting for sexual patronage. From “Woman Boku” in Kubwa through Chris Garden area of Jabi to Mabushi, Wuse Zone 4, the Globacom area of Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, to Rita Lori hotel axis in Garki 2, sex workers are on rampage in Abuja, like the historic invasion of the city of Morocco! And nobody appeared to have been concerned about it.

    It is for this reason that the appointment of Wike as minister is highly soul lifting. The minister has indicated his burning desire to sanitize the city and bring down any structure erected on unauthorized areas or not built according to specification. While this is necessary to make owners of such structures pay for their sin of desperation and conspiracy to wilfully distort Abuja master plan, the minister should take a step further to bring to justice, the officers of the ministry who turned their faces the other side while these rots were going on. There are relevant departments in the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) saddled with the responsibility of approving building plans for structures and supervising to ensure that the buildings are constructed to specifications. It is arguable that the Development Control arm of the ministry has been in deep slumber or in active connivance to this colossal crime. The minister’s stern warning that directors in the ministry should either sit up to perform or quit is therefore apt and timely.

    It is also noteworthy that development in the FCT has greatly slowed down because of the activities of cabals in the system who hold property owners and developers to ransom. Today, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a poor man to secure building plan approval from the FCT Ministry. The system has been greatly riddled by all forms of irregularities and perversions. This apparent violation of due process has greatly promoted a culture of land racketeering, profiteering and pervasive recklessness.  

    The minister has also vowed to recover all lands long allocated but not developed from the original allotees. While this is in order, the minister should exercise caution in implementing this because many of these lands remain undeveloped because of some bottlenecks placed on the land owners by officials of the ministry. For example, since the past six years or so, the FCT authority has placed embargo on building plan approval for all lands in all the Area Councils. Land allotees in the Area Councils cannot even open files to process their building plans, which is the first step towards securing approval to build. The legitimate land owners are left with no option but to wait until the embargo is lifted or risk their hard earned resources to mobilize to site with the connivance of some ministry officials. This accounts for why we have explosive population within the city centre, with heavy consequences on its carrying capacity. The minister may do well to lift the embargo on the building plan approval for Area Council lands to enable property owners commence development promptly. After all, the essence of allocating plots to people is to enable them build and occupy their properties and not for fun or fancy.

    Finally, the task to sanitize Abuja is not an easy one. The minister should be aware that he is going to meet with intense resistance, and stiff opposition from high quarters, and even among some of his colleagues, friends and associates. However, as long as he is on the right path, God Almighty, through the prayers of well-meaning Nigerians, shall see him through.

    The hallmark of good leadership is the ability to do the right things and not the nice things. So many things that are nice are not necessarily right. To be right in the sight of God and in the sight of men in his decision, he has to be fair, firm and forthright. At the end, we shall all be accountable to God on the extent of equity and fairness we displayed in discharging the responsibilities of the offices He gave to us in trust towards our service to humanity.

    As President Bola Tinubu has stressed, this administration is committed to delivering the greatest good to the greatest number of people possible.

    • Dr Adewole, a public affairs analyst writes from Abuja.
  • Wike vows to collect over N34bn owed FCTA

    Wike vows to collect over N34bn owed FCTA

    The minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has vowed to collect over N34 billion owed the FCT Administration.

    Wike said this on Tuesday, September 5, while speaking to members of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee to investigate the failure of mass transportation in Nigeria, during a working visit in his Area 11, Garki, Abuja office.

    The minister warned allottees owing the Administration for ground rents to either pay or have their property revoked and reallocated to those who could pay.

    He said: “I have calculated the debt of non-payment of ground rent, which is about N34 billion and I am going to collect all of those back. I don’t care all I want is for the rent to be paid.

    “We will be publishing on Thursday for all those who are meant to pay their ground rent. They will be given the grace of two weeks to pay.

    “Whoever doesn’t pay, I’ll revoke it and give it to whoever will pay so that the necessary services will be rendered. People want to live in a beautiful city but don’t want to pay their dues which is impossible.”

    He added that he would tie projects to this IGR so that contractors would be paid yearly and projects would no longer be abandoned.

    Reacting to why Lagos was succeeding in public transportation but Abuja was not, Wike explained that Lagos was a state while the “FCT is like a state”, stressing that budgetary provision for the FCT was poor.

    He appealed: “Our budgeting system is too poor…so how will it work? Well, require your help too. Thank God I am the one to supervise this year’s budget. We will come to you, please don’t pursue us.”

    On the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company (AUMTCO), he said: “The truth of the matter is that, am gonna overhaul the entire system.”

    He disclosed that N2 billion was approved for palliatives by President Bola Tinubu for FCT in the federal government’s subsidy programme, saying his “concern was transportation, but I need to know where are we.”

    The minister lamented that AUMTCO buses were been loaned out for other uses without maintenance because: “People think that government business is not their business, but where you work should be your concern.”

    He hinted that next the cabinet will be formed, adding that: “We have the capacity and we will work with what you give.”

    Berating the proliferation of abandoned projects in FCT, Wike revealed that the FCT owed contractors about N1 trillion for the projects, stating that he would not initiate new ones.

    “You must do what you can at a time, and leave those you cannot for other governments…Everyone is a problem. We do our own, you do your own, and everyone does his own.”

    Commenting on the “poorly negotiated” Wasa affordable housing contract, the minister wondered why over N1 billion would be spent by the government to provide infrastructure for investors to build and make billions while the government gets nothing,

    He said: “All those things, am gonna cancel them.”

    Read Also: N85Bn contract: Wike queries agreement of Wasa housing project

    The chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, Afam Victor Ogene, stated that his committee visited the Minister to find solutions to epileptic mass transportation in the country and FCT after over N16 billion had been put into it during Sure-P.

    He disclosed that they discovered Abuja Light Rail was “a mirage of itself” during their visit to the site, and found out that Abuja which used to be dark at night suddenly is no as they could see fictional streetlights.

    Wike added: “Many people are saying Wike is this, Wike is that, but we need more of Wike”, he stated.

    “Abuja is fine but it doesn’t have organized systems and some people are not willing to come to Abuja and we are missing revenue.

    “We are here to encourage you to also look into transportation to organize it. We will support you to do it and it will also solve problems of one chance in the city.”

  • N85Bn contract: Wike queries agreement of Wasa housing project

    N85Bn contract: Wike queries agreement of Wasa housing project

    The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Monday, September 4, queried the agreement entered into by officials of the government in the N85 billion affordable housing project in the Wasa area of Abuja.

    During a project tour to Wasa, Wike queried the agreement that the FCDA provide infrastructure while the developers build affordable housing and sell to the masses without any benefit to the government.

    Wike said it would have been reasonable for the government to get 10 percent of proceeds after providing funding while the developers get 90 percent.

    He said: “Government provides land and infrastructure, then the private sector builds and makes money while the government makes nothing, who died that?” He question

    “This arrangement is not acceptable, the government can take, say, 10 percent, while the private sector takes 90 percent.

    “The rate is equally not affordable for the masses. We will look at all these. We will not award contracts for awarding sake.

    “The contract for the project was given in 2014 to Gilmor Construction Company at the cost of N28 billion and was reviewed in 2018 to N85 billion.

    “So far, N21 billion has been paid while N64 billion is outstanding. The project has so far attained 24.5 percent completed after nine years.

    Read Also: University VC hails Tinubu over Wike’s appointment as FCT minister

    At inception, the affordable houses were designed with one bedroom and two bedrooms, with the two bedrooms to cost N7 million”.

    In the Kabusa community where shanties were pulled down before the visit, Wike expressed satisfaction with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, (AEPB) for clearing the shanties.

    The roadside market and the slum settlement were demolished early hours of Monday morning before the visit of the Minister.

    Wike added: “We will not allow shanties to take over Abuja. The Development Control Department has done well. We will now protect the place so that miscreants will not return to the place.”