When the 61-year-old prince from Pindiga, Akko local government area of Gombe state was appointed the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, of the Federal Capital Territory Administration in November 2021, there was no controversy that it was home coming for Eng. Shehu Hadi Ahmad.
Hadi, as he is popularly called, became the eighth substantive executive secretary of the FCDA in November last year. He hit the ground running because he had gone through the critical departments of FCDA and eventually retired as a director knowing the workings of the most vital agency of the FCTA as per the infrastructural development of the evolving Federal Capital.
And within one year, while presenting his score card last week, he attributed his successes to God and the staff and management of the FCDA that are in tandem with his vision and mission for the development and provisions of infrastructure that is making Abuja the dream capital of the.most populous capital city in the black nations.
Hadi holds a masters degree from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria in structural engineering and so when he was named the substantive helmsman it was a story of a round peg at the helms of affairs of the most critical agency of the FCTA.
He was a lecturer at the famous Kaduna Polytechnic before he joined the services of the FCTA as a principal engineer with the engineering department of FCDA. He rose through the ranks to become a deputy director before veering into politics when he was appointed a commissioner of works and infrastructure in Gombe state between 2011 and 2014.
Thereafter, he came back to FCDA as deputy director in charge of city infrastructure and promoted a full director in 2017 before retiring from the civil service in January 2021
Hadi holds the traditional title of Iyan Pindiga in Gombe state.
In spite of the challenges of office, some modest achievements were recorded as he highlighted some of these under his stewardship to include but not limited to the following:.
On office accommodation, reorganisation and restructuring, part of the immediate issues that had to be urgently addressed was the issue of office accommodation – the distribution of offices within the various departments as well as the alignment of location/responsibilities.
He has also to his credit the visit of the contract for the repair/renovation of FCDA old block and the extension of the current FCDA corporate headquarters building
On staff training, he embarked on systematic approach to training of officers, significant coverage involving officers at various grade levels and also increasing the co-operation with international development agencies (UN-Habitat, JICA etc).
On promotion/conversion/upgrade lingering cases of promotion, conversion of technical staff and upgrading were addressed; Preparations have been put in place to ensure that oromotion exams are conducted as at when due.
During the period under consideration, some infrastructure projects were awarded while some of the on-going projects were taken to appreciable level of completion and a few others have been completed and already put to use.
In a bid to close the gap in the provision of infrastructure in the country, the federal government introduced “Sukuk” financing scheme. A number of infrastructural projects of the authority benefitted from this window of funding. This facilitated the significant accomplishment of some major milestones in respect of some critical on-going projects of the authority;
Also benefitting from this was the rehabilitation and expansion of Outer Southern Expressway from Villa Roundabout to OSEX/Ring Road I (RR1) Junction including four Interchange
Other on-going projects taken to an appreciative level of completion include the provision of Engineering Infrastructure to Wuye Districts, to Guzape II Cadastral Zone A11 District, Abuja. Temporary Access Road to Open up Sections of Institution and Research District
The construction of temporary access road/car park for Abuja Light Rail Stations in the FCC – Lot 7 – Gbazango and to Plot 650 Shettima La’ah Street, Life Camp
The repair and rehabilitation of road shoulders and bridge embankments in the FCC.
The Dualisation of Usuma Dam Gurara Road as Phase II Development to the on-going reconstruction of Lower Usuma Dam – Gurara Road.
The emergency rehabilitation of phases 1 & 2 Treatment Plants at the Lower Usuma Dam.
The installation of Electro Flow Power Solution Equipment at National Assembly and the Rehabilitation of the Complex phase 1 is at 18% completion while the Rehabilitation of Federal Secretariat Phase 1, Abuja.is at 17%.
Construction of new ECOWAS Commission Headquarters, Abuja and Construction of African First Ladies Peace Mission, Abuja are on going.
Under the watch of the Executive Secretary, the supervision of the construction of the Headquarters of the following MDAs; Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); National Population Commission (NPC) amd Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) – formerly DPR, etc. are progressing.
The Construction and Equipping of 220-bed Gwarinpa District Hospital phase 1, Abuja is at 60%
Successful engagement of Consultancy Project for the commencement of Gude Resettlement Site; Resolution of a number of cases of conflict between the native population and various Developers and the Successful completion of the second phase of Nyanya Integration scheme for the Original Inhabitants of Nyanya FCT Abuja.
Public Private Partnership (PPP) Initiative/Alternative Funding; Resumption of the Land Swap Programme;Sukuk; Road Tax Credit Scheme; Cultural Centre and Millennium Tower (CCMT ) Project – A number of investors have indicated interest in partnering with the Authority to deliver the project.
All these were executed by him within a year of piloting the affairs of FCDA. Indeed, there is need for garlands for Eng Shehu Hadi Ahmad, the Iyan Pindiga and the quintessential executive secretary of FCDA.
Abdul, a public analyst, writes from Karu, Abuja
