‘What we are doing to stop street light vandalism’
Umar Shuaibu is the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) and in this interview with he speaks about what the council is doing to end vandalism of street light cables and ensure the city is properly lit up. Excerpts:
Vandals have continued to jeopardise the effort of the FCTA in lighting up the city, what are you doing to address this?
Abuja is supposed to be a properly lighted city based on the infrastructure we met on ground. Things went well but subsequently when we were about to transmit from some of the contractors that were handling the street lights to a new set that took over from them, there was a little time gap such that vandals started coming in to remove, especially underground cables, which are very expensive. Before we knew what was going on, they had already created havoc.
Another problem we met was lack of resources. However, from the inception of this administration we started addressing the matter, and presently, we are partnering with security agencies, the Nigeria Police, Civil Defence, Nigerian Army, the local indigenes and stakeholders and the situation is improving, especially along Airport Road, Banex and in some areas within the city centre.
What vandals? is the penalty for
They face the law and whatever the law states on such activities. When arrested, they are first taken to the police and the police charge them to court and the court decides their involvement and either acquits them or sentences them accordingly. It is just unfortunate we don’t have a special law for vandalism. It is the general law guiding theft and vandalism of installations that is applied.
With the law taking its course on these vandals, has it reduced in Abuja?
What is really happening is that we are arresting them more frequently than before because of the involvement of the security agencies. The arrests that have been made so far have really reduced the theft and that is why there is improvement.
Any update on the generating sets approved by the FCTA to power street lights in the city?
Even before my assumption of duty, the 22 generator sets were on ground, and as it is, there is another proposal, the FCTA budget was approved two months to the end of the year, and whatever is there in the 2017 appropriation, we are doing our best to meet up the target. We are working with whatever is on ground, but the service is not cost effective because there is always demand for diesel, so we are exploring other avenues in the areas of power such as solar, waste and wind, and we have so many presentations.
What is the update on that?
These are things that we had not explored and so we have started exploring them so that we can have a pilot story for the provision of street lights using solar, waste and wind. We are now going to dedicate some streets for that type of energy, and by the time we start, we will compare it with the old method to see which is more effective.
How would you rate the performance of the contractors?
That was the first step I took as soon as I assumed office. I made sure that I met with all the contractors handling Abuja street lights, and honestly, their performance was very low. Therefore, we charged them to improve to meet up with the conditions of the engagement. So many people had bidded for this contract and they proved that they were good. So we charged our contractors to up their performance. So with this, if they do not meet up with the conditions of the contract, then we wouldn’t have any option than to terminate the contract. But then, they have been made to be on their toes and that is why we all see that there is improvement. However, any of them that does not improve based on our rating, we will take adequate action and make sure that our installations and street lights are properly maintained.
Development Control has often been accused of colluding with individuals to demolish people’s property against court orders, what can you say about that?
If it had been done before my assumption of office, I haven’t witnessed that. If there is any matter of such in court, we do not carry out our duty on any property because we always maintain the status quo. We cannot stop you from work and when the matter is in court for you to continue development we cannot serve a ‘stop work’ notice. Some people have the attitude of going to court in order to continue their work despite the matter being in court, and that we don’t tolerate. The development must stop pending the determination of the case. Perhaps it is our insistence for them to maintain the status quo that they see as violation. So long as the matter is in court, it is not a violation and nobody has the right to do anything.
What other challenges is AMMC facing and what are the steps being taken to address them?
Another challenge is that we have a department for outdoor advertisement and synergy. Before one pastes any kind of poster or place any billboard within the city, it has to follow due process. We have laws guiding the placement of all advertisements; especially campaign posters, convention posters and all sorts of posters. You find out that some people are not disciplined and so they desecrate everywhere. It is somehow appealing for someone to see a neat facility and then you will go and litter it with posters, even on sign posts, people cover them with posters. This is indiscipline, and when we go with our machines to erase them, people will go back and replace them. So this is a major challenge, but right now, what we are doing to avert such is that we charge people to a mobile court. Definitely your address and picture will be there, so we get them.
Also, those people that will be writing on walls that they are carpenters and other artisans, we pick their numbers and invite them and prosecute them in mobile courts immediately. However, the problem is not even the prosecution because some people feel the fine is so little and that is why when they pay they still commit the same offence. Therefore, we will make sure that we improve on that and that whenever we arrest a person, we will make sure the charges governing the offence, if it is an individual, will be N100, 000, and if it is an organisation, it will be N1m. We are emphasising on that.
We want to also embark on sensitisation, and if despite the sensitisation exercise some people commit such offence, they will face the penalty.