I read with utter dismay an opinion piece on Daily Trust newspaper written by one Aliyu Maradun, a self-acclaimed union leader in the FCT. Maradun must have thought the write up was a good critic of the FCT Water Board under the amiable leadership of the General Manager (GM), Engr. Aliyu Ahmed Nahuce.
As FCT chairman of a well respected union, AUPCTRE, one would have assumed Maradun will use his position to demand for improved welfare of FCT water board employees. But, evidently, that is not his priority. It is obvious that Maradun is only interested in mischief and media trial via several libellous publications against the GM to tarnish his image and hard earned reputation.
When I started reading, I thought he was writing about the current state of the board in terms of service delivery as it was captioned; “Between a minister and a general manager’’.
In the piece, the writer claimed the FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, acknowledged receipt of some alleged frivolous happenings in the water board; that was when it became clear to me that the piece was written from an uninformed position because the minister is a man of integrity who takes decisions from an informed position, and he does this using intuitive or reasoned process, or a combination of the two.
But why would Maradun say so? It’s because when Nahuce was setting up the water board, in line with global standards, which can be confirmed by residents of FCT, Maradun and his likes were busy working underground to undermine the process. Like all people who become sycophants and acclaimed union leader, he was nowhere, his knowledge of the board’s operations is what may, at best, be called a “cut-and-join” version..
Maradun wrote: ‘’The minister acknowledged receipt of the following, on the water board, by way of example; 1. Notice of picketing on the ground of total disregard for codes of ethics in running the organisation, 25th of May 2018; 2. Report on excruciating attitudes, breach of extant rules and monumental fraud, 4th July, 2018; and 3. Need to serve a retirement notice on the GM based on rule 020810 of the Public Service Rule (PSR), 10th October, 2018.’’ What nonsense! Without mincing words, Nahuce is the best helmsman the FCT water board has ever had.
With an unalloyed drive, he restored water supply to Asokoro extension, which was out of supply for six to seven years. He introduced the sluice valve Karu/Nyanya line at Dantata booster station for an improved strategy for effective isolation of valves to improve supply and introduce non-revenue water programme in the storage tanks and the distribution network through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Nahuce led the team of engineers that repaired the bottom outlet of Lower Usuma Dam, which had been faulty since 1996 and reintroduced pre-chlorination in the water treatment process which was abandoned years back.
He created NiBox Cash Terminal, deployed at the Customer Care Unit and Area offices for the collection of customers’ payments. This has actually reduced the difficulty being faced by customers and improved the transparency of the FCT board.
Presently, the FCT water board is the most efficient and effective government agency in Abuja as every household connected to the water supply can testify on having an uninterrupted supply of water because of good managerial skills and dedication to service of the general manager, FCT Water Board, and even Maradun enjoys same in his apartment.
Maradun claimed that ‘’the legatees have been reported formally to the minister over and over for breach of trust, misconduct and outright fraud for effective administrative measures to be applied to avert further colossal impairments on the system.’’ This statement is untrue and I will advise him to stop misleading the public.
As a union leader, one should be careful of write-ups one authors as it speaks more about such a person’s mental reasoning and capacity.
That Nahuce has in concert with anybody or firm committed fraud is also untrue. The relationship between Nahuce and Garusun Nigeria Limited is well documented as a commercial transaction, and there is nothing illegal or fraudulent about the transaction.
The matter is already before the court of law in a criminal proceeding yet to be concluded and there is no pronouncement of guilt or corruption against Nahuce. The law stipulates that a man is presumed innocent until adjudged guilty through a fair judicial process. Therefore, in this case, we wonder where the emphatic conclusion from the acclaimed union leader came from.
In the best tradition of the bar, when a matter is in the court, even a legal luminary does not delve into the matter, comment or write an opinion or otherwise of the ongoing trial except to say and caution against prejudicing the public and the entire judicial process.
I, therefore, urge Maradun and his sponsors to exercise restraint in branding people as corrupt without a judicial pronouncement to that effect.In conclusion, having regards to the facts and circumstances of this particular issue, we believe that the paper has been used to misinform the public.
Marafa is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja.
