I hope this article meets you in “the perfect condition of health” (apologies to Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo alias 4.30 of New Masquerade). If so, doxology! (whatever that means). Am just catching fun with a reminder of how we wrote letters in those early days of learning how to write letters and composition in school. Anyway, thanks for reading to this point.
I actually wanted to draw your attention to something about the territory you now administer. I do not want to say ‘govern’ to avoid the problem of misunderstanding which may arise in certain quarters. So, permit me to reach you through this ‘homily’. I would have called for a meeting but I am afraid that officialdom may keep me waiting till the end of time. Therefore, please, kindly accept my reaching you here. I am not being rude. If, however, you think I am, please forgive, but read still. I am only raising my voice as a concerned citizen of the Federal Republic resident in your area of administrative responsibility.
Let me first commend you for the shock therapy you administered on the FCT and its administrative system when you sent heads of 21 agencies that ought to make for effective administration of the territory, home. You may not know it, but that was a very good prescriptive injection to wake the slumbering FCT administration from its breathless sleep. This territory you now administer had for far too long been asleep such that residents kept wondering if indeed it has persons paid by tax payer’s money to ensure that its systems and organs are at their operational best. Many residents of the FCT see something that resembles effective operation only when those VIO boys mount roadblocks to hound private vehicle owners, not painted taxis, for checks on their documents and when Road Safety officials decide to act on private vehicles over disobedience of traffic lights. Otherwise, painted taxis in this territory, recklessly and mindlessly abuse traffic lights right before Police, VIO, and Road Safety operatives, and nothing, I mean, nothing happens. This bold affront on simple traffic law is a statement on the ineffective management of road discipline in the FCT. Perhaps, you may need to import the LASTMA ideology from Lagos to assist in enforcing road discipline in Abuja; even if to ensure that commercial motorcycles operating in the territory, at least, have registration number. My estimation is that more than 90 percent of them are not registered and do not have registration numbers. While this adds to the security threat in the territory, it is also revenue lost.
But, that is not my headache actually. I was using that to bring you to see with me the need to go beyond Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse, and Jabi in your actions on roads in the FCT. Sir, while it is good to repair dilapidated roads in the capital center, please kindly extend your hands to satellite towns of this territory. I suspect that your directors may not want you to know that there are places in Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji, and Kwali area councils that motorists detest to approach because of the state of the roads. For instance, if you drive through the only major access road in Kubwa, where every road intersection has failed, you would wonder what offence residents of the area committed to be so ignored by the administration that collects their taxes. The same applies to places like Daki Biyu district, Gwarimpa, and developing towns in the area councils. The case of Daki Biyu is pathetic because despite the several highbrow estates and investments there, and despite its proximity to Jabi, residents groan and regret owning houses there whenever the heavens decide to bless them with rain. The upcoming dry season is relief for them.
Sir, I would also like to call your attention to the unjust land administration issues that have left investors and developers praying for a benevolent Pharaoh who will ‘let them go’ from official oppression. The thing here is that past administrations in the FCT created an oppressive administrative system that worked against those on the lower rungs of the political and social ladder. If you look around Sir, you will find that Satellite towns are not developing as fast as one had expected despite the influx of Nigerians into the FCT. This is not because there are no people willing to buy plots of land and build on them, but because the administration here usurps lands and hands them over to government agencies and the military irrespective of how much ordinary Nigerians had invested in them. If the land administration department of FCT will be openly honest with you, they will bring you to the knowledge of the fact that many residents are every midnight praying for divine intervention to get military booths off lands that had been previously allocated to them for private development. Someone told me of the pain he bears seeing his investments in a place called Traders Layout in Gwagwalada area council, which was usurped by the military, wasted. He has nothing giving him hope of recovering his investments neither is he assured of reallocation. The question many people in his shoes ask is: must the military forcefully take over every land in Abuja? If they do, what then is left for the people who genuinely want to invest in estate development?
Sir, people who are caught up in this quagmire are now looking forward to a Moses that will lead them out of Egypt. Is it possible that you will become that Moses, sir? It is possible because many now see you as a leader who does what he says he will do. For people in this position, you represent hope for tomorrow. Will you disappoint them?
Sir, many residents of Abuja followed your activism on public infrastructure while you superintended Rivers State. They are aware that you were publicly nicknamed ‘Mr. Project’ and that on two occasions; you were voted Man of the Year by The Sun because of your proactive measures in building infrastructure. These residents of the FCT are looking forward to the replication of that magic in FCT in the areas of security –imagine driving around Abuja city at night without ordinary streetlights and with outlaws hiding in dark street corners armed with guns and daggers… a sad statement on management of the FCT. The residents also want to see the reclamation and restoration of street walkways from above-the-laws who had turned them into places of worship and thus pushed people onto the road where they are exposed to hit-and-run drivers. Please, sir, do something.
Finally, sir, I watched your inaugural address as FCT Minister and I was thrilled when you said that FCT needs to make money too. I agree with you. While you have already started pushing up the revenue of the FCT from statutory ground rents, please do not forget the revenue that will accrue to the FCT from fines payable by those who refuse to use pedestrian bridges, where provided. There has been more than enough public enlightenment against this behaviour. Perhaps, it is time to make human beings realise that while they are free to behave badly and transgress simple traffic laws, they must also keep loaded wallets to pay the associated fines. Sir, don’t you see that as another revenue stream for the territory? By the way, when are you cooking Ikwerre native soup? It is like it will go down well with pounded yam. Anyway, enjoy your day!