I Inherited A Lot Of Abandoned Projects, FCT Minister, Wike Complains
The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyeson Wike has complained that he inherited a lot of abandoned projects, most of which have hardly reached 20 percent completion.
“Contracts in the FCT are something else. As I speak to you, you don’t even have up to 20 percent completion. “Every contract (has been) abandoned because of no money.”
The minister, who took a tour of some abandoned projects today, September 4, said that a situation where contracts are awarded and later abandoned, due to the lack of funds, will no longer be encouraged.
“We are not going to encourage that (abandoning projects).
“We are not going to be awarding contracts for awarding sake. We are going to award contracts that we will finish and then embark on new contracts.
“We will continue to do this. Areas that we are not sure of, we will go and visit and see it for ourselves before we make any commitment to the contractors.”
The minister, who stopped over at the ongoing project for the provision of engineering infrastructure to Wasa affordable housing project in Wasa District which was awarded in 2014 at the cost of N28 billion and later reviewed upward to N85 billion, expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement.
He frowned at the terms of agreement between the FCT Administration and the private developers involved in the construction of the houses, saying that it will be reviewed.
“We are not impressed with the arrangement made by the FCT. Government will not just cough out N85 billion and the land, and we are providing all the infrastructure, then you want to give out to private developers who will now build and sell. “We think that government must also participate, having provided the land and having provided the infrastructure.
“So, this kind of arrangement is not commendable at all. If we are partnering with private individuals or developers, the common sense is that you provide the land and also provide infrastructure and then they come and develop and make profit. “Government can say okay we will take 10 percent, then they take 30 percent, depending. “And it is in that case that government will even be involved in determining the prices that the houses would be sold. But when you don’t have that kind of arrangement, then the private developers can put the cost at any rate, which is not also affordable.”
The minister assured that the access road would be constructed to the Institution and Research District, because notable institutions including the EFCC Corporate Headquarters, the Body of Benchers Building, Baze University, Federal Medical Centre, Institute of Human Virology amongst others are located there.
“We have been able to invite the contractor to see us tomorrow so that we will be able to complete that road, which is very, very important; important in the sense that headquarters of the EFCC is there, the Body of Benchers building is also there.”
The FCT Minister who also visited the Kabusa Junction along the Apo Mechanic village where some shanties were recently cleared by the Development Control Department, commended the department for removing the shanties.
He said that perimeter fencing would be introduced in the area to prevent miscreants from returning to the cleared portion.
The FCT Minister, stressed that he would not allow shanties to take over the city, adding: “Development Control has done well by making sure that those shanties are destroyed. Having been destroyed, we are going to put fence in the place so that all these miscreants will not go back there to mess up all what we have done.”
Resurgence Of Coups In Africa And Panacea For Peace, By Hassan Gimba
In the past three years, at least eight African countries have witnessed military coup d’états. This is coming when it was thought that Africa’s democracy had come of age; when we were beginning to think that coups had gone for good, consigned to an era in the past when African governments were led by the military.
Coincidentally, all but one of the eight countries were colonised by France.
Some of the countries are Mali, Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and now Gabon.
The first coup in Mali was in August 2020, when President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by a gang of Malian colonels commanded by Assimi Goita. The coup came on the heels of anti-government demonstrations about worsening security, contentious elections for the legislature, and accusations of corruption.
After some pressure, resulting in fruitful negotiations, the junta agreed to hand over power to an interim administration run by civilians to oversee an 18-month transition to elections in February 2022.
However, a clash ensued between the coup leader and the interim president, retired Colonel Bah Ndaw, prompting the junta to stage a second coup in May 2021. Goita, who had been acting vice president, became president.
In Chad, the army seized control of the country in April 2021 when the country’s “soldier-king” president, Idriss Deby, was killed in combat while visiting forces engaged in fighting rebels in the north of the country.
However, instead of the speaker of the parliament taking over as stipulated by the country’s constitution, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, the president’s son, was named interim president. This sparked riots in N’Djamena, the country’s capital, but the military quelled it easily.
In 2020, President Alpha Conde changed Guinea’s constitution to run for a third term. This caused severe unrest that emboldened the country’s Special Forces led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya to overthrow him in September 2021.
The failure to tame bandits and terrorists, especially Islamist militants, led Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba to oust President Roch Kabore in January 2022. But barely eight months later, Captain Ibrahima Traoré seized power from Damiba to become the country’s new leader on September 30, 2022.
On July 26, 2023, members of Niger’s presidential guard led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, an officer once involved in peacekeeping efforts in war-ravaged countries, seized power from President Mohamed Bazoum to address the “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”
Last week, on August 30, top military commanders in Gabon forcefully abridged President Ali Bongo’s third term and annulled the controversial results of the recent election he was declared the winner of.
When we look at these countries, what we see as a common thread is a long stay in office, fuelled by greed and self-centeredness. Because the sit-tight bug has bitten the leaders, they employ all means foul to remain in office, like constitution amendment, election rigging, imprisonment of opposition members, weakening of opposition parties and suppression of individual freedoms and the press.
They riddled their reign with government corruption, which they employed to weaken all democratic and state institutions and turn those with oversight functions, like the parliament, into rubber stamps.
It is unfortunate, but true, that many African leaders have a warped way of thinking. They assume that they were created to be served; that God created them specially and that without them, their country cannot get anywhere.
We can see such an inordinate desire to hang on to power in Cameroon, where Paul Biya has been at the helm since 6th November 1982. For 41 years, he has held his country by its jugular despite spending most of his time seeking medical care in Switzerland. Uganda is one other country where its leader, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has been in power since 26 January 1986.
Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso has been his country’s leader since February 8, 1979, and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since August 3, 1979, while Eritrea’s leader, Isaias Afwerki has been on the saddle since May 24, 1993.
Perhaps this trend will continue as long as those whom God has elevated to such positions continue to see themselves as extraordinary mortals whose death would cause time to stop in its tracks. They must know that the world would not pause and look back when they drop dead.
Then, the judiciary. Yes, the judiciary could be the panacea. This arm of government is the bedrock of sanity in a nation. Once it is corrupt and, therefore, unreliable, making it no longer a last sanctuary of hope for the traduced, then a nation is doomed. If it was upright, then a nation would get it right because there would be justice for all, which would translate into safety and prosperity for everyone. “A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice”, said Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio in his book, Bayan wujub Al-Hijrah alal ibad.
In April last year, I wrote here: “Once a nation-state finds itself in such a situation, only a few options are left for it to continue. Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio’s ethos for a nation’s survival should become a national creed. Its leaders must urgently embrace justice and fairness and the laws of the land must equally apply to king and serf. Then the leaders must truly see leadership as service to the fatherland and not a means for them and their families to aim at owning the land. In his book, Bayan Wujub Al-Hijra, the revered scholar, revolutionary and founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, said: ‘A kingdom can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.”
It is also time that African leaders began to see their people as humans who deserve the best in life. All that the average African wants is to feel he counts and that his feelings are respected. He wants an organized society and so he wants his nation’s institutions to work. He is also law-abiding, and he understands and respects the law if it covers everyone – high and low.
A look at all the countries in Africa where coups have taken place of late will reveal that not only is the judiciary in bed with all the deposed leaders but also the followers do not seem to matter in the scheme of things.
Again, in April last year, I concluded a writeup with this: “The easiest way to serve the people is to empower them to easily access basic needs. The little money in their pockets should be valuable enough to guarantee that. Once the people can afford basic needs because of leaders’ efforts, the crime rate and discontent will take flight. What way is better to empower than to provide work for the majority?” majority?”
Hassan Gimba is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime.