Despite certain insinuations from some quarters, the past five years in the Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) could, arguably be described as a period when Abuja recorded unprecedented achievements in several areas. Not too long from now, the FCT residents will have a deep sigh of relief with the take off of the multi-million naira World Trade Centre, the Abuja Boulevard and the Abuja Light Rail which will all change the face of the new city. This is apart from the imaginative land reforms which coincided with the implementation of the much talked about FCT land-swap initiative, described as the Senator Bala Mohammed formula for accelerating the pace at which Abuja is being developed.
Some of the achievements includes the construction of the ten-lane highway linking Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport and the city and connecting Giri; the construction of the Zuba/Kubwa/Tipper Garriage/City Centre express road linking up AYA; the construction of Inner Southern Expressway; the building of Abuja Light rail system; introduction of modern mass transportation buses; introduction of the innovative land swap system for accelerated housing and infrastructure provision, as well as reform of land administration and allocation system in the FCT.
The Bala administration had as far back as 2010 given priority attention to issues like environmental protection, transportation, social development, youth empowerment, manpower development, land reforms, provision of critical infrastructure which was intended to be the spring board for the development of eleven more additional districts which were neglected by previous administrations. Similarly within the past one year or so, concerted efforts was given to job creation for the youths, improvement of the standard of education and the welfare of workers, promotion of industrial activities and on issues related to the improvement in the health and social service sectors all over the FCT.
Most of the area councils have already benefitted from the efforts taken by the FCTA through deliberate government intervention and the private sector provided critical infrastructure in at least eleven new districts out of over 25 districts.
These challenges coupled with the back-breaking work of administering the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory can only be appreciated if we put a few facts in perspective. Imagine a third-world developing country with a population in the region of one hundred and eighty million people, covering a national land mass of four hundred and twenty-four thousand (420, 000) square kilometers with annual GDP of about five hundred billion US dollars involved in building a new federal capital for a plural society in a frenzy of primitive capitalist accumulation. You will then begin to see the herculean task before the minister. Most of the things Bala and his men have done are on ground for people to see and even criticize if they like to do so.
It was, perhaps, in recognition of the enormity of the task of administering Abuja that the office of the minister was also granted gubernatorial/mayoral powers. However, the common denominator of all past administrations of the FCT was that they all depended solely on statutory government budgetary allocations to execute the projects and programmes of developing the capital territory.
Today, the story is being changed. Senator Bala Mohammed, Kauran Bauchi, the minister of FCT has introduced a novelty that is changing the development strategy of the FCT under different forms of public/private partnership (PPP or P3). This strategy describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through the synergy of government and one or more private sector companies.
The most recent in the series of Private sector participation introduced by the Minister is the Land-Swap where parcels of land are granted to private entities perfected on an arrangement to develop the necessary infrastructure. It is expected that on the basic of the land-swap, new residential districts will soon emerge in the Federal Capital Territory. The implications of this new strategic initiative are legion: jobs will be created, residential accommodation shall multiply, land speculation will vanish, cost for property shall nose-dive and everybody shall be happier.
But despite what many FCT residents have come to now regard as appreciable achievements which are verifiable, a certain group of persons using some disgruntled individuals and the media are bent on destroying not only Bala but whatsoever the Bala led FCTA and his lieutenants have done since he took charge of the FCTA about 5 years ago as the oldest serving minister for the territory. Some newspapers have recently been engaged in publishing negative and unpalatable reports about Bala and his men like the FCTA Director of Treasury Ibrahim Bomoi and the AGIS director Hajia Jamila Tangaza.
While many Nigerians are celebrating the scaling of yet another democratic hurdle in our democratic evolution, there are some people who are scheming to capitalize on this occasion to smear the image of some eminent Nigerians who they may have one axe to grind or the other. One of the victims in this wise is the Hon. Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed whose hard earned reputation is being threatened by some unscrupulous elements for the simple fact that he was a trusted and committed loyalist of the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan.
As it were, Senator Bala Mohammed is among the few cabinet members who had served under the Goodluck Administration from 2010 till date and had indeed contributed enormously to whatever achievement the administration has recorded. But these detractors do not want him to leave office with his image and credibility intact. For that reason, they have been up and doing in their attempt to splash mud on him. In doing this, they have adopted several strategies and these include peddling allegations that his children were involved in several corrupt and shady deals and that his administration was corrupt. The detractors have even attacked his own children including those whom are already married and have continued to undertake their normal activities, outside the parameters of the FCT Administration.
The campaign of calumny has also extended to some Directors of the FCT Administration, including the Director of Treasury, Alhaji Ibrahim Bomai who has been the target of attack by some of the elements because their attempt to cajole him in the past had failed. Bomai is also the subject of attack because he has stood his ground, refusing to pay huge sums of money as ransom over threat of negative media reports. Similarly the Director of AGIS, Jamila Tangaza, a quiet hard working woman is a victim of the aggressors. One of the aims of those behind the campaigns of calumny is to pit the FCT Minister against the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari.
Some critics might not see the giant strides of Bala now until he leaves office because it is a common trend in Nigeria. Nigerians are known to condemn people while in office but the moment they leave or die, they heap praises on such persons. With the achievements so far recorded in the FCT, there is no doubt that when the history of Abuja is written, the name, Bala Mohammed will never be omitted. [myad]
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