Abuja Light Rail to begin operation beore Christmas – FCT Minister

we are done with the major projects in the next one year or so, I think we can really say the heart of Abuja would have been truly and correctly opened to traffic.

It is observed that most departments in the FCTA have been non functional, what seem to be them problem?

Our key focus also includes strengthening institutional framework for the delivery of services and embarking on a wide range of reforms. These reforms were meant to make the institution of the FCT more vibrant, more relevant, and more capable of being able to achieve the mandate of the city.

People say you have been quiet despite your achievements in the FCT?

I will explain to you why most people have been wondering why the FCT Minister is silent, why is he quiet in the press. My brother in the National Assembly, Senator Dino usually would pat me and say silent achiever and you know if you get any commendation from Dino.

The whole idea was to strengthen the institutions of the FCT so that work does not have to depend on the Minister because Ministers will come and go. And I’m very happy to say that my brothers, mandate secretaries and senior management teams, you are now coming into an FCT where you will meet institutions that are really strong, headed by very committed public servants and it’s your duty to harness these resources and work with them so that you can hit the ground running.

Starting from today, the administration is going into phase two. Phase one was meant to cater for this issue I mentioned to you now. Phase two now is service delivery to the grassroots. Your appointments will now signal the next phase of this administration’s development initiative.

The Abuja master plan is very important to every FCT Minister that comes on board, what is your plan on that?

I will like to underscore the urgency and the enormity of the work for the restoration and renewal of the vision of our founding fathers. This is something that everybody expects and everybody talks about. Now, you are going to be the change agents and I appeal to all of us citizens, leaders, politicians and all to support this team to be able to restore the Abuja master plan. Abuja is the only city in this country that was planned from scratch.

For those of you who have travelled abroad, Abuja is a beautiful city. Many of the cities of the world, even in the western world, cannot be compared with some of the infrastructure that we have. It’s our duty to love this city, have passion in this city, have commitment, so that really we restore the city, the views and values of our founding fathers and I’m very sure this team will be able to do it.

I therefore invite you to immediately get fully acquainted with the direction and priorities of this administration. You should also familiarize yourself with all your secretariats and all your offices, so that you will work as a team, because the moment we all work as a team, 50 percent of our problems will have been solved.

I assure you that by the grace of God, within the next two years of this administration, this city is going to see continuous infrastructure development and more importantly, development at the satellite towns and other areas.

You said you intend to make Abuja to be compared with other major cities in the world, how do you intend to do that?

Other areas of priority in this second phase of this administration’s march to fulfill the vision of our founding fathers are to provide additional support to transport, to education, health and most importantly ICT. We are committed to making Abuja a smart city and I’m sure most of you are probably aware that Abuja won the IBM grant for smart city development out of so many African cities and this is going to help us in working towards a onestop shop system whereby revenue and other related matters can all be done at one place.

The administration as usual is committed to running an effective public service that avoids waste and conserve resources. The overriding task is that of achieving a self-funding administration and an economy capable of providing employment the teeming youth and also providing the needed infrastructure for us and those coming behind us.

The FCT has come a very long way from the beautiful dream conceived 41 years ago by our founding fathers, some of who are alive today, one of whom is President Muhammadu Buhari. Obviously from their dream, we have now witnessed a growing modern city hosting several millions of people.

In this second phase, funding is critical, particularly funding for the areas that we in the administration have realized is very critical, for instance, funding for resettlement. The reality is that Abuja has come to stay. Obviously, the city is expanding at a very high rate, but our ability to pay compensation, to relocate people and communities to the rightful place as part of their sacrifice for this city to grow has been slow. So, I appeal to all of you my brothers in the National Assembly that whenever provide for compensation, please allow it to be. I assure you that this minister has no intention whatsoever to grow fat whilst he is the Minister of FCT. I will be as lean as I am; I’m not going to touch any of your kobo. Allow us to work. Give us the money and by the grace of God, when I am done, I can go and get fat later.