By Stanley Onyekwere
As residents and other stakeholders in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) continue to wait for the next Minister or Ministers as the case maybe, to be appointed by President Bola Tinubu, there seems to be performance of the immediate past FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, over a seven-and-half-year sojourn with the FCT Administration, having the mandate to develop and manage a world class capital territory for the country, through designated mandate Secretariats, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) covering all aspects of administration. And Bello, who took over the mantle of FCTA’s leadership on the 11th November, 2015, was re-appointed as the minister by the then President Muhammad Buhari, after a successful bid for second term of four years in 2019.
Undoubtedly, completion of inherited ongoing or abandoned projects as well as execution of priority infrastructure that have immediate and direct impact on the lives of residents in the Territory dominated the focal points of the Bello’s led administration of the FCT that ended about two months ago when he signed and presented his handover notes to the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola.
Retrospectively, Bello had assured that his administration in line with then Presidential directives on its change agenda, would block all leakages, in order to free badly needed funds for the development of the Territory. Also, he solicited for the cooperation of FCTA staff and other stakeholders to propel an unhindered execution of the agenda for the FCT. Prior to his assumption of office, Abuja like Lagos was fast descending into some level of chaotic trajectory in city management, in terms of traffic, buildings, infrastructure and social facilities, with a number of the contractors stopping work, laying off staff and abandoning sites, resulting to many uncompleted critical projects that led to the myriad of seemingly unending issues, which some observers perceive as signalling abysmal performance on the part of the Bello’s Administration.
Whereas, Bello while giving insight into his performance in the first term of the Buhari’s regime, when he assumed duty as the FCT Minister alongside with the Minister of State for FCT, Ramatu Tijani Aliyu, said his team laid a solid foundation for rapid development of the Territory, which would be consolidated upon, under the general policy guidelines given to him by the then President Buhari.
According to him: “What the administration did during the first tenure was basically to prepare ground and establish the foundation, so what we need to do now is to build upon the foundation that has been established. I thank President Buhari for having decided to reappointed me as a cabinet Minister out of so many eminently qualify persons from my state and also decided to bring me back to FCT. Abuja is a city that is growing far beyond normal growth rates, so we have to work at a rate more than the normal rate.”
Similarly, the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani, opined that the reappointment of Bello as the FCT Minister by Buhari signifies trust, and solicited the cooperation of the FCTA staff to enable them succeed. She then promised to join hands with the Senior Minister to continue to render the good services that he had started to take FCT to the desired level.
For instance, during his time as the lone Minister of FCT, Bello after receiving routine briefs from heads of FCTA SDA’s, immediately swung into action, by embarking on an encompassing tour of existing critical infrastructure and the nation’s capital that have bearing on the people and city at large. And this, was a clear demonstration of his keen desire to consolidate on the legacy left behind by his predecessors in the provision of diverse infrastructure and services to residents and visitors alike.
One of such projects was the long abandoned Bill Clinton Driver Interchange Bridge along the Umaru Musa Yar’adua (Airport road), which the Bello’s administration completed, and opened for use by the public in 2017, clearly in fulfilment of the promise made to the residents of the FCT, and to complement the effort of the Federal Government on easing traffic movement in and out of the Abuja Airport. Hitherto, the bridge together with a segment of the road, including some stretch towards the Gosa Village area had remained uncompleted, arising from non-payment of accrued liabilities to the contractor. And traffic from the airport had to be redirected to go and make u-turn around the Giri axis of the road, and then the traffic from Gwagwalada to the Airport was also diverted.
On the benefits to be derived from the completed bridge, the Minister said: “There is complete ease of traffic flow now. Before now, when you see the traffic build-up around here, you can imagine the time it takes for motorists to get into the city and close on time when they are going out, especially some people who have flight to catch at the airport. A lot of people have missed their flight because of the traffic holdup encountered along this road. But this bridge now has freed this road and people can say that at least, as far as we are concerned, it will enhance the economic activities along this stretch as well as free the lost man hour we used to encounter.”
Another area that attracted Bello’s attention is the Abuja Light Rail Project awarded in 2007, flagged off construction in 2009, and packaged into 6 Lots with lot 1A and 3, and on the 12th of July, 2018 was commissioned for skeletal operations by President Buhari, who said the accomplishment clearly demonstrates the current administration’s commitment to addressing critical infrastructural projects and keeping with the ideals of his Change Agenda to ensure prudence in the management of public resources, value for money considering the huge investments in the project. More so, as transportation is one of the live wire of any city, as it paves way for any meaningful
development. Bello had in his address disclosed that the total cost of the first phase of the project (Lot1A and 3), stands at about 823 million dollars, explaining that 60 per cent of which was funded by the China-Exim Bank, while the remaining 40 per cent was funded by the FCT Administration, as counterpart funding. He further revealed that the bank would fund the 85 per cent of the project (US$157,001,049.89), while the FCTA would bring in a 15 per cent counterpart fund of US$37,007,552.54. However, with advent of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictive measures to contain it, this project suffered a serious setback, as its operations were suspended. Since then, the facility has remained in an almost total state of comatose, due to acts of vandalism. This, the much anticipated incoming FCT Minister should consider reviving, in the spirit of the established continuity policy.
On the other hand, the controversial Apo -Karshi road project, awarded in 2011, and its failure to be completed at agreed time overshadowed efforts made by the administration before its exits two months ago, which for whatever reason and intent continues to attract negative appraisal and commentary. Perhaps rightly so, because when the project was awarded to M/S Kakatar’ CE . Big. Limited in 2011, it had the completion period of 20 months, and the Bello’s administration following several interventions have made declarations on its completion, which never saw the light of the day. However, as succinctly captured, Chairman of the 9th Senate committee on FCT, Smart Adeyemi, who led other members and Ministers of the FCT on oversight function, it was a shame for an indigenous construction company to betray the trust of FCT Administration and the National Assembly, by awarding the contract to the firm.
Also, while exonerating Bello of any blame, the Lawmaker said the company had acknowledged the full funding of the project by the current FCT Administration, and there was no reason for the firm to depend on excuses instead of delivering the work as scheduled. According to him, Apo -Karshi road always appear in FCT budget and was giving the Senate headache, which must be looked into. But, attributing delay in the project to the increase in price of items, the chief site engineer, Ezekiel Panam who spoke on behalf of the Managing Director, said in 2011 when the project was awarded prices of materials were not high.
He said: “No administration has funded this project as the current one has done, part of the delay was funding but since you came on board you settled it. This job was awarded in 2011, now prices of materials are not the same, so we are trying our best to deliver.” This too, more than anything else requires the urgent attention of the would-be next FCT Minister.
Futhermore, in the aspect of provision of potable water, Bello after series of meetings and assessment tours to the FCT Water Board facilities, including the Lower Usuma Dam and various Tanks under construction, gave a firm assurance that his Administration would work diligently to improve supply of clean water to the entire residents of the FCT. For instance, the Greater Abuja Water Supply project, which entails construction of water supply network, which Bello described it as a legacy project, which on completion would ensure sufficient and uninterrupted supply of treated water to the whole city and its environs. He however, noted the need for more funding in the budget to enable the FCTA get its counterpart funding for its execution. According to the Deputy Managing Director, CGCOC, the contractors handling the project, Mr. Fan Xiao Jiang, when completed, it will convey 480,000 cubic meters and serve treated water to 2.5 million residents.
He said, so far, 420 kilometers pipe has been buried deep under the ground, even as order has been placed for 221 kilometer pipes, out of which 180 kilometer of pipes have already arrived on site. The project is expected to be completed in November 2023, this is also another area calling for the attention of the incoming FCT Minister to actualise.
Also, the FCT Administration under Bello overhauled the key technical Departments involved, including Departments of Land Administration, Urban & Regional Planning, Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) as well as Development Control. Currently, resultant effect is that even the duration of giving development control approvals have drastically been reduced. And to ensure efficient machinery for quick dispensation of justice on all Land appeals and petitions in Abuja, the Administration had set up a 10-member Committee to promptly address appeals and petitions from the public, thereby reflecting the intention and commitment of the administration to nurture and entrench the right strategies to address all Land-related petitions in the Federal Capital Territory with a view to reversing all injustices and impunity of the past to pave way for fair play and justice in the dispensation of such cases within record time.
Similarly, there was reinvigorated effort towards amicable relocation and settlement of some original inhabitants of the FCT, as an expanded implementation committee was set up to ensure seamless relocation exercise, following issuance of a ministerial directive. This paved way for the furtherance of basic infrastructural development into many aboriginal settlement caught up with the pace of development in the city. This was carried out through the FCDA Resettlement and Compensation Department.
In the same vein, City sanitation and Traffic decongestion got lot of attention from the Bello-led FCTA, to this end, several joint taskforce and ministerial committees were established as part of measures to achieve this objective. The impactful activities of the Comrade Ikharo Attah’s taskteam on decongestion of Nyanya-Jikowyi -Karshi road, and FCT Ministerial Committee on city sanitation remain verifiable testament of the commitment to make Abuja a working city for all. For example, to free traffic from and to the ever busy Abuja-Keffi expressway, Bello ordered and performed the partial opening road of the Goodluck Jonathan Way, which is now going through finishing level, even after his exit from office, which is an indication that it was never abandoned afterall. And, this singular intervention brought a lof of succour to thousands of commuters, whom were hitherto subjected to untold hardships due to the nightmarish experiences encountered daily while traversing the area. Such similar interventions were applied to Dutse-Bwari road, Gwagwalada-Zuba-Suleja road, Kuje-Gwagwalada road, and Abuja Airport road axis respectively.
