On FCT, H.E. Wike’s Work Is Cut Out For Him

I must quickly say that I am impressed with the speed and energy with which the Honorable Minister resumed work and some of his comments in his maiden press briefing.

I am particularly interested in the issue of Land Developers mentioned by the Minister.

Apart from a very few, many so called land developers in the FCT are mere land speculators and shylocks who secure land from government almost for free, add no single value to it, not even infrastructure, instead they start selling the land in small portions at exorbitant prices, ripping off and even scamming people thus making home ownership in the FCT an impossible task for many. That needs to stop.

Furthermore, beyond demolition threats and restoration of the Master Plan, the speed of infrastructural development in the FCT needs to be seriously addressed.

Development is too slow and that is what fuels some of the disenchantments of the residents and encourages underhand practices by land speculators and property merchants as well as putting pressure on the city.

The FCT is not building infrastructure and taking development beyond the city centre quickly enough, which are supposed to connect the city centre with the satellite towns and thus decongest the city.

Unscrupulous land developers have cashed in on this, clustering and dotting the FCT landscape with poorly planned Estates all around the fringes of the city centre with substandard infrastructure, where they provide any at all.

Part of the challenge in the FCT is that infrastructural development as well as commercial and government activities are still overly concentrated in and centred around the city centre which leads to intense pressure on the aging infrastructure and its accelerated degeneration and degradation.

It is unacceptable that decades after the FCT was created, the city centre is yet to effectively merge seamlessly with Gwagwalada through the airport road, Kubwa through the Kubwa Expressway etc.

This needs to change.

With an aging infrastructure added to increasingly poor service delivery (electricity, water, sewage, refuse disposal etc), very poor maintenance culture (street lights, traffic lights, grass, trees, markets, parks etc), rising crime level, and insecurity etc. in the FCT, the work of the new Minister is clearly cut out for him.

It is not going to be a tea party by any means but I believe he has the capacity to handle the task.

I wish the Minister well, hoping that he would be able to resist and withstand the various powerful groups and forces with entrenched and vested interests in the FCT, over the years.

One smart way of navigating the dynamics and guaranteeing greater success is to engage directly with residents and govern the city with them. There are many ways that that could be done. I would be willing to assist.

For now, welcome to the FCT, Honorable Minister.