New year: Help protect public assets – Minister charges residents

By Stanley Onyekwere

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has enjoined residents to always help protect all public assets located within their neighbourhoods, by treating such critical public infrastructure as they would treat their personal property 

Bello, who gave this charge in his New Year Message to residents, decried that the nation’s capital city is confronted daily with the unwholesome and unpatriotic activities of vandals who wantonly destroy or steal public infrastructure installed by government at great cost.

He noted that replacing or repairing these critical infrastructure cost a lot of money which otherwise would have been invested in other equally essential projects.

According to him, in the preceding year, the FCT Administration consolidated on its efforts of providing world class infrastructure for the Territory with efforts to complete on-going projects and investing heavily in the maintenance and upgrading of existing ones.

In a similar vein, the Minister solicited residents’ cooperation and support, as the government continues the task of removing illegal structures and settlements within the city, both for security purposes and maintaining the sanctity of the Abuja Masterplan.

 “It must be understood that these corrective measures are absolutely essential if truly our city is to evolve into one of the most aesthetically pleasing and functional cities in the world. The presence of illegal settlements and shanties will only draw us further away from attaining this goal.

“I must therefore extend our appreciation to residents for their understanding despite the discomforts they must have endured in the course of our remedial measures. I hereby call for your continuous support and cooperation.

“Please be reminded that the maintenance of security is the responsibility of all. I wish once more to reiterate the mantra of saying ‘something when you see something’.

“I wish also to commend the security agencies in the FCT for the tremendous work they have been doing in ensuring the safety of lives and property within the Territory as the incidences of violent crimes have witnessed a decline over the past few months.

“Some of these gallant men and women who have seen to this possibility have even paid the ultimate price in the course of discharging their responsibilities.

“I wish to reassure them of the continuous support of the Administration as demonstrated with the provision of 60 high-capacity vehicles in addition to accompanying security and communication equipment last year”, the Minister stressed.