From Ismail Omipidan, Abuja
It is one construction work or the other, everywhere one turns. And they qualify for any world class projects. Welcome to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria’s seat of power, which last witnessed the kind of transformative projects currently being undertaken by the FCT minister, Nyesome Wike, 16 years ago, under former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, who was FCT minister from 2003 to 2007.
From wherever one decides to access the FCT, Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa or Kogi states, the signs are visible as new projects are being embarked upon on daily basis. Incidentally, it is not only the city centre that is experiencing the Midas touch of the minister. The rural communities, otherwise referred to as satellite towns, are not left out.
Only last Tuesday, the minister was at a community called Kabusa, on the outskirts of the city centre, to flag off the construction of the Kabusa-to-Takushara road, where he declared that President Bola Tinubu was on a mission to transform satellite towns in the FCT to cities by bringing governance closer to the people at the grassroots level. He assured the people of the FCT that Tinubu would not fail those in the rural communities.
“For the first time, roads are being constructed in rural areas and are being fitted with streetlights. It has never happened before and I want to assure you that the government of President Tinubu will not fail you.
“One of the things to do is to construct roads for you, and I can assure you, it is not about flagging off road projects, in the next six to seven months, I want to assure you we are going to commission this project.” the minister had told the community.
While thanking the people of the area for believing in Tinubu’s administration, Wike further disclosed that the funds needed to complete the project had been made available. This is even as he also revealed that another contract would be awarded the next day for the construction of Kabusa-to-Ketti Road as part of President Tinubu’s rural transformation agenda.
“What we are doing today is what the Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda is all about – give hope back to our people. I am happy that, if not for the government of Tinubu, I wouldn’t have known Kabusa and Takushara,” Wike said.
The minister also tasked the contractor handling the project to ensure that the people of the community benefit from the multiplier effect of the road project by ensuring that the locals are engaged and given jobs to do, so as to enable them to feed their families.
Daily Sun gathered that the 9.8-kilometre road project would upon completion be the third rural road to be constructed by the Wike-led FCT Administration within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
The seven-metre two-lane carriageway, with shoulders and streetlights, is expected to connect Kabusa, Teta, Tasha, Sauka and Takushara, which would in turn boost socio-economic activities in the communities.
Before then, the FCT minister, upon assumption of office, left no one in doubt that he was indeed in the FCT to make a difference. When he announced upon assumption of office in August 2023 that he was going to ensure the timely completion of nine critical projects that would be inaugurated by President Tinubu to mark the President’s first year in office in May this year, not many believed it was possible.
But Wike, who has since demonstrated that he is a man of strong character and conviction who is determined to change the face of the FCT positively, delivered on his promise. He had acknowledged the fact that the FCT had witnessed several foundation-laying ceremonies of many projects worth billions of taxpayers’ money, but which were abandoned thereafter. Therefore, to achieve his target, he summoned all the contractors to find out what the challenges were, with a view to resolving them. And once it was discovered that funding was the major challenge, the minister wasted no time in cracking the nut by agreeing on payment plans from the FCT Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and budgetary allocations. And within days after the meeting, most of the contractors mobilised to the sites.
In less than a year, Abuja residents began seeing the gains of Wike’s transformative posture as he delivered the nine critical projects he promised, with the completion of the official residence of the Vice President, which was awarded 14 years ago, topping the list. The minister also delivered the Abuja Rail Mass Transit System, just as he has also started the construction of bus terminals across the FCT as part of measures to arrest the issue of ‘one chance’ and kidnappings, which almost tainted the minister’s transformative posture at the outset of the administration.
Some of the other projects were: the Southern Express Parkway – now Bola Ahmed Tinubu Way, the Wuye Bridge Interchange, the Outer Southern Expressway, the N20 Arterial Road, now Wole Soyinka Way, the Inner Southern expressway, and the completion of B6- Constitution Avenue, B12- Independence Avenue.
Others are: the Circle Roads to the Abuja Central Area, and the provision of engineering infrastructure in Guzape Lot 2 district, now named, Chinua Achebe Way.
Daily Sun also gathered that the rural roads were equally given similar attention, as the minister, early this year, embarked on the construction and rehabilitation of 12 rural roads and bridges across the six area councils, just as he warned the contractors to ensure that they are completed before the year runs out.
Incidentally, the first phase of the rural roads projects includes: the 9km Paikon-Kore-Ibwa Road in Gwagwalada Area Council, 11.3km Yangoji road in Kwali Area Council, 5km dual carriage way at Kuje, 5km Naharati Ukya- Angwan Hausawa road in Abaji Area Council, 7.2 Gaba-Tokulu road at Bwari Area Council and the 5km Tipper Garage-LEA Road in Kuje Area Council and the Saburi 1&2 road in AMAC.
The minister is not only concerned about roads, he had also made reasonable intervention in the education sector in FCT, since he assumed office. For instance, to ensure that pupils do not suffer in the course of learning, Wike, in the first quarter of 2024, commenced the simultaneous renovation of 19 schools in phase one of the FCT Accelerated Whole-school Rehabilitation approach. So far, the sum of N13.1 billion has been committed to the initiative for the renovation and rehabilitation of 40 schools in the FCT.
Until the Tinubu’s administration’s intervention, for years on end, Nigerians were inundated with stories about the construction of a second runway for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja with little or no significant progress recorded. However, even when the current Aviation ministry leadership made reasonable effort to make it happen, work was stalled by the refusal of the host community to accept the compensation offered them by government. As a result, for over a year, nothing tangible could happen on the site. But the jinx breaker, on August 29, 2023, successfully broke the jinx, as he brokered a peace deal between the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and the Jiwa (host) community, where in the presence of members of the community and other stakeholders, the minister directed the immediate payment of N825 million as compensation to the affected land owners.
For Nigerians who may be wondering where the minister is getting funding from, Daily Sun’s investigation reveals that apart from the budgetary allocations, the minister’s decision to enforce the payment of the outstanding ground rents and other taxes in the FCT, paid off, as FCT’s IGR increased tremendously. The ground rents, it was gathered, runs into billions of naira, recovered from individuals and corporate bodies. At the last count, the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) had recovered over N2 billion from payment of ground rents alone.
Additionally, the minister’s push for the removal of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), a request that was granted by President Tinubu, also helped in no small measure in aiding the availability of funds to the minister to execute projects, as that singular gesture enabled Wike to get funds from financial institutions to fund projects.
In spite of all that the minister has so far done, he appears not to be relenting. Only on Monday, December 9, he was in Bwari Area Council to flag-off the construction of four new roads, and Staff Quarters for the Nigerian Law School.
To deal with the security challenge that almost tainted his good works, the minister adopted a bottom-top approach by organising town hall meetings across the six area councils that make up the FCT. At the meetings, he engaged directly with traditional rulers, vigilante groups and other critical stakeholders on how to tackle the menace of kidnapping and ‘one chance’ in Abuja.
The outcomes from the meetings gave rise to the establishment of additional police posts in strategic locations, and the purchase and distribution of 100 motorcycles to security outfits in the six area councils in FCT. This, no doubt, aided the local security outfits and the conventional ones to access difficult and mountainous terrains, especially in the rural areas, where some of the notorious kidnappers were arrested. In Jully this year, the administration again purchased and distributed 50 operational vehicles and communication gadgets to security agencies to strengthen the fight against criminals in the FCT. Today, the incidence of kidnapping and ‘one chance’ has reduced significantly.
Knowing that to succeed he needs a well-motivated civil service, Wike, upon assumption of office, wasted no time in approaching President Tinubu to grant approval for the implementation of an FCT Civil Service Commission, following the passage of the bill into law since 2018. The law, passed during the immediate past administration, is primarily aimed at ensuring that the FCTA’s civil servants rise to the peak of their career as permanent secretaries and head of service in the FCT. And in October 2023, barely two months after his assumption of office, Wike announced that President Tinubu had granted approval for the implementation of the law, thus breaking another jinx. The minister, under the Act, wasted no time in announcing the appointment of the FCTA Head of Service and nine permanent secretaries, who are today assisting and completing the efforts of the minister at making the FCT bubble again.
If in the midst of his political battle in Rivers, Wike is still able to provide leadership and make life meaningful for the residents of FCT and its environs, retaining him will not be too much a sacrifice to make for the ruling All Progressives Congress-led federal government. And if the feelings in FCT so far are anything to go by, then it is safe to conclude that, after El-Rufai, it is Wike, especially with regard to providing leadership and good governance in the FCT.