The Minister of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, has identified illegality in land allocation as a serious crisis area in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The Minister gave this disclosure during his meeting with Senior Management Staff of the FCT in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Barr. Wike went further to read riot Acts to the management and staff of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) stating that it will not be business as usual.
Barr. Wike, who assured Nigerians and FCT residents that they will see projects upon projects under his watch, said he is ready to fix the short-term issues like: traffic light, sanitation, street trading, transportation, insecurity and others issues quickly; while the long-term plan will commence later.
According to the Minister, “We are here to deliver the short-term deliverables for people to see that Abuja is coming back to what it was supposed to be. People are complaining of street lights not working, I am complaining too. We must fix it within the shortest possible time.”
Taking over the leadership of the administration from the Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, Wike told directors who felt they did not possess the capacity to deliver on their current tasks to seek redeployment to areas of their strength, adding that he would not take any excuses for failure.
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He charged the Director in charge of street lights to do everything possible in the shortest possible time to restore lights in the streets of Abuja.
On sanitation, Wike said Abuja must return to a clean city “as the Minister told the Director in charge of sanitation to work hard or be replaced, as he is ready to make the Director develop high blood pressure on account of the job as he would not give him time to rest.
“If you are in charge of sanitation, buy your drugs, carry it all the time because I will disturb you all the time to make sure Abuja is clean,” he said.
On transportation, Wike lamented the indiscriminate and illegal bus stops all around Abuja.
“I have respect for women, but this one I will not. If you don’t have the capacity, let’s replace you now. On this job, people will not like you, but in the end, if you do it well you will be appreciated. Things are tough, yes, but we cannot live in a lawless society because things are tough.”
Wike assured that street trading would be a thing of the past, just like insecurity would be tackled with all seriousness.
He reiterated his administrations resolve to deal with illegal structures, shanties and other illegalities, saying when his administration is done with the short-term quick fixes, they will proceed to development projects and that Nigerians should expect projects upon projects.
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