A stakeholder and retired officer, Olumuji Bamidele has called on the Nigerian government to make necessary arrangements to cope with the rise in population in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
He explained that the projection for Abuja was slightly over three million then but as time goes on the population doubled and thereby stretching the already existing infrastructural facilities.
Speaking in a telephone interview with Voice of Nigeria, he noted that once there is an influx of people, there will be insecurity as well and if care is not taken, what happened in Lagos can repeat itself in Abuja.
Bamidele who recently celebrated his 83rd birthday also called for policies that would make the nation’s capital a bit restricted for those seeking greener pastures as this would help stem the problem of insecurity that has bedevilled the nation’s capital and distorting the Abuja Master Plan.
“Abuja used to be a no go area for some people at that time (when they newly relocated the nation’s capital to Abuja) many of our staff ran back to lagos and a few of us who had no choice waited and things started to get better because Abuja was in the early stage but now everybody wants to be in Abuja. Abuja is now Nigeria Washington.
“Before I left Abuja, after my retirement (over 25yrs ago) Abuja Master Plan was being followed, however, during the tenure of the incumbent Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufia as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, there was distortion of the Abuja Master Plan and steps were immediately taking to restore it.
“The present FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello is also doing his best in restoring the distorted Abuja Master Plan and overcoming the insecurity in the nation’s capital through robust removal of criminal hideouts which is a good security measure emplaced from what I heard,” he stressed.
Going down memory lane, the Octogenarian narrates how Abuja administrative structure came to being, ” It is true that a panel was set up by the late Murtala Muhammed, myself, late Pa Aboyade and Chief Olu Falae were commissioned to scout for a befitting administrative structure for Abuja, we set out to London, Washington, Brazil and other countries and we concluded that Abuja should be modelled according to the Brazilian administrative structure.
“Unfortunately, there was no official or publicity concerning the journey, since there was no announcement made concerning the journey it seems rather difficult for me to say anything about it. Any information we give must be solely certified and must be defended. If I were in service and you asked me this question, I would simply say no comment. In spite of the fact that I am now independent, yet I must make sure that whatever I say must be defended,if we were given publicity, I would have been able to tell what actually transpired. I don’t think it’s proper for me to say anything about the journey.
“All I can say for now is that, a panel was set up, to me it was just like an ordinary routine official assignment which needed no announcement as at that time. So many administrative capitals were studied then, but the emphasis was on the Brazilian administrative pattern and that is what is being followed till date.
” We started Abuja from Suleja in 1979 we rented small houses for offices before we started building Abuja before we moved to Abuja. After my retirement, I had the opportunity to visit Abuja again in 2013 for my 70th birthday, I could see a lot of development and a lot of changes that I could hardly recognize a lot of places then, there was a lot of development as at then, by now, I am sure the development must be spectacular.”
PIAK
