Indigenous Civil Society Organisation under the auspices of Abuja Grassroots Advocacy Projects (AGAP) has concluded plans to stage a mass protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Monday over what they described as gross failure of the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello.
Comrade Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, Coordinator of the group, who made this known Saturday said that they can no longer keep quiet, because the minister has decided to run the FCT like his personal business, with nothing to show for it, while the residents and natives are languishing in penury.
The group expressed concerns that since the minister was appointed by President Muhammad Buhari six years ago, from the social services to healthcare services, electricity, transports, down to water have all become epileptic in the FCT, saying that the issue of street and traffic lights are nothing to write home about because all of them are no longer functional.
“We have gotten to that juncture where Hon. Muhammad Musa Bello the sleeping FCT Minister needs to give an account of his stewardship for the last 6years.
“We are mobilizing for a massive protest against the administration on Monday, November 8, 2021, to FCTA Secretariat to demand that the Minister and his management team come and give a public account of his failed leadership.
“But before then, let me raise some salient issues that the administration does not know and not to talk more of addressing.
“In terms of Agricultural Policy, have you ever wondered what the Agricultural Policy of this administration is? What has ever been done in the last 6 years in the name of promoting agricultural activities and business in the FCT?
“What about education? The good days of having serious primary and secondary education schemes are gone. Since the inauguration of Muhammad Musa Bello no single education plan has been rolled out or implemented.
“Also, the issue of abandoned projects in the FCT is a national disgrace. Look around the FCT, you will see abandoned projects everywhere despite budgetary provisions. Do you remember the new road leading to the NCDC laboratory in Durumi constructed just last year 2020 during the lockdown, the road is now as bad as 2001 roads in FCT Satellite towns,” he said.
On the aspect of security, the group said that gone are the days residents of FCT would hear and see logistics vehicles donated by the FCTA or the Hon. Minister FCT to security agencies but it is no more.
“Security has grown wings in the FCT and we are also sliding into the Kaduna situation. Very unfortunate. The minister is gradually turning most satellite towns in the FCT into glorified slums.
“Go to all the satellite towns in the FCT, you will see dilapidated roads everywhere. Places like Nyanya, Gwagwalada, Gwagwalada express road, Kubwa, Lugbe, Karu, Zuba and Bwari, mostly the Dutse-Bwari-express roads are the worst hit when it has to do with bad roads, as the road networks within and outside the towns have become death traps.
“The truth is that it has never been this bad in the FCT, where you get scared to visit anywhere in the satellite towns. The state of the insecurity situation in the city center is something that even President Buhari is not safe. The Minister has failed to ensure the safety of every resident of the territory. People are kidnapped at will, even during the daytime,” he stressed.
Yusuf lamented that night residents cannot move within the city center alone, because kidnappers and armed robbers are almost everywhere, that since the street lights are not working anywhere in the city, it has made it easy for bad boys to operate within the city center.
“The satellite towns are the worst hit because people are scared of sleeping in their houses at night because of insecurity. There is epileptic power supply everywhere. As if that is not enough, there are no good roads anywhere. The National Assembly passed the budget a long time ago. So, what is holding the minister from delivering?
“This is the only administration in the history of the FCT where we hear that the Minister returns unspent money to the national treasury every year, without using the money to do what it has been budgeted for.
“There are many things that the budget can be used for to alleviate the suffering of residents, but the Minister keeps on returning money every year to the national treasury. Since his assumption of office as minister, he runs a one-man administration without appointing mandate secretaries, who are by law Heads of Agencies in FCT. This is sad,” Yusuf said.
