The FCTA Parks and Recreation Policy which mandates park and garden operators to close shops by 7pm has continued to generate mixed reactions among residents. In this report, KEHINDE OSASONA examines the enforcement of the policy and asks: In whose interest?
It is no longer news that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) just handed down a new enforcement which stipulates an operational period of between 8am to 7pm daily for all recreational parks and facilities.
While reeling out the orde, the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Bello, stated: “The City will have to adjust to the fact that parks close by 7pm when it’s dark.”
The new directive according to Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, was part of proactive decisions to sanitize the capital city and curb certain illegalities being perpetrated undercover in some of the parks.
Attah said: “The FCTA is very clear on the issue of park policy, the coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council with the Director of Parks and Recreation has clarified the issue.
“Minister of the FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello, has given the marching order to implement the park policy and it is clear, from 7pm all parks are to remain closed that is what the Park policy contain.
“Also with the kind approval of the minister, from tomorrow, Monday all parks should remain close from 7pm so that those in charge of the park can clean it and prepare for another day business,” Less than 72 hours after the pronouncement, the FCTA enforcement team was unleashed to ensure complaints and based on the feedback, it dawned on both operators and customers that the order has come to stay.
Park owners, customers wail
Few days after the policy berthed, owners and operators of parks and recreational facilities have started bemoaning their plights, saying they might not be able to cope with the revenue loss that would likely follow the government directives.
During a visit to ‘Mosquito Garden’ a popular recreational hangout in Darki-biu in Jabi Area, our correspondent observed that the once bubbling garden is gradually giving way to skeletal activities.
This medium scooped further that the enforcement is not only gaining ground in the city, the fear of the FCTA enforcement team has suddenly sent jitters down the spine of both operators and their patrons.
One of the operators, a middle aged woman who simply identified as Rose, told Blueprint Weekend that the new law came to her as a shock.
According to her, she just acquired a new place as a way of expanding her business, only for the FCTA to now come out with this policy again.
“Will they ever consider business owners in their policies? She asked.
Also lamenting, a fish seller Gina, who plies her trade in a garden around Wuse, condemned the government directives, saying the government is just out to frustrate Abuja residents with their unfriendly policies.
She said, “I just got a place where I could sell fish around the garden and have barely spent five months in this new location.
“Imagine, I just came around and have started enjoying patronage here, tell me, where do I go now?
“Before you know it, our customers will scatter and to gather them back would be difficult. If you must know, that 7pm is the bubbling hour when some of our customers arrive.
“Others will start falling in around 9 o clock till around 12pm or thereabout. That’s how we roll. But I must say that the Abuja government ‘no try at all.”
A visit to Central Park by our correspondent saw total compliance as the security guard politely said services would not be rendered after 7pm.
Multiple sources also confirmed to our medium that there was partial compliance in some of the gardens and recreational centres around the Jahi Area.
A manager of one of the parks in town, who refused to be named, also told our correspondent that although they had complied with the order, they were going to take it up legally with the FCTA and make the government see reasons why tax-paying business entities should be respected.
Policy under litigation
Speaking on the development, an Abuja resident Mr Chukwuemeka Njoku, told Blueprint Weekend that it was quite unfortunate that the FCTA was adducing security breaches and all that to justify the order handed down.
He argued that in a democratic setting, the rule of law should be seen as pre-eminent over personal interest, noting that there was a pending litigation over the matter.
Njoku wondered why the FCTA refused to wait for the court to determine the case before enforcing this new order.
He said, “This issue of enforcing an order that parks and gardens should close by 7pm is under litigation. There is a suit instituted by Suez Gardens and 60 other parks and garden operators.
“They dragged the FCT Minister to court in 2008, challenging the order and the matter is still pending. The court then ordered parties to file terms of settlement and they did.
“Now, three days ago, the plaintiffs wrote a letter to the minister, reminding him of the ban case before the court, arguing that they should have allowed the court to dispense of the matter before churning out a new order.
“As I speak, people are already saying there was an ulterior motive, saying banning beer and other beverages was an attempt to Islamise the FCT by bringing back the Sharia Law by proxy.
“If these operators close by 7pm when civil servants and other customers mostly hangout and patronise gardens and parks, then you have killed nightlife business and entertainment in Abuja the capital city.
“Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of people hiding under nightlife to perpetrate crimes and all that, for me, it is left for the government to design modalities to forestall security breaches, and not asking law abiding business operators to close shops at peak hours. For me, it is a no, no.”
Somilarly, a social media user simply identified as Abu on his handle castigated the FCT Minister over the new order.
According to him, the policy was not only draconian but unjustifiable, insisting the minister should be called to order.
He said, aside from alleged skewed appointments that only favour Muslims and northerners, to the extent that a lawyer, Barr Maxwel Opara, took the matter to court, Bello has continued to dish out one inept policy direction to another.
“How can one justify his latest directive? Are Abuja residents’ in a curfew? This kind of thing is unheard of, even in war-torn Ukraine! Living condition in FCT is worsening every day, yet he does nothing or says anything!
“All he is concerned about is the operational gardens, parks and the sales of beer even when Nigeria is still a secular state.
“Instead of this hide and seek, the FCT Minister should be bold to declare Sharia in Abuja, at least, let’s know that it’s the only thing he would be remembered for.”
Meanwhile, some concerned groups and rights activist have not only described the minister’s order as a fundamental breach of rights of Nigerians to move freely and interact, they have also faulted the planned restriction, arguing that it was an affront on the rights of Nigerians as enshrined in the Section 40 of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
FCT minister lacks such power – Lawyer
While corroborating the people’s views in an exclusive chat with Blueprint Weekend, an Abuja based Senior Lawyer, Olatunji Salawu, said such directives was overbearing and direct assault to people’s rights to freedom of movement.
Salawu, a former NBA scribe added: “It is doubtful in law if the FCT Minister has such power via the purported directives.
“Let me say that the minister’s directives arte overbearing. Unless, there is a declaration of State of emergency, the directives to close city recreational centres by 7pm are a direct assault on the people’s rights to freedom of movement under Section 41 of the Constitution. The Minister’s action cannot be justified under the Constitution.
“Parks and Recreational centres are means through which individuals enjoy freedom of movement. The right is not limited to any particular hours of the day.
“Granted that the right is subject to Section 45 (1) a) of the Constitution which allow derogation of it, in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality nor public health; such derogation could only be justified by valid laws enacted by the legislatures. It is doubtful in law, if the Minister of FCT has such power to order the purported directives.”
