Late last month, when news filtered into town that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) would be embarking on a 17-day project commissioning spree, which the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, had planned to commemorate the two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, I got a bit startled. It was not because I doubted the capacity of the minister to deliver on such number of projects but largely because, having followed the offerings from the series of scorecard sessions held at the International Press Centre by different ministers in the last few months, I had come to the conclusion that the cabinet of President Tinubu is only peopled by a good number of sleeping ministers, some talkative and a few working hands.
We have listened to ministers who only reported the challenges of their ministries, while some would declare fasting and prayer sessions as policy initiatives. We have seen some ministers tell media men that the challenges of their ministries are 60 or more years old, and that the nation must muster trillions of cash to scratch it in the surface, and some others who could only reel out a list of procurements as their two-year milestone. We also saw one of them led the entire country to commission (not flag off) the construction of 30 kilometres out of a 700km road and all sorts.
With that as the background, I concluded that if the 17-day commissioning exercise became real, we shouldn’t find it difficult to describe Wike as a lonely oasis in a vast desert. And when the FCTA eventually released the list of projects meant for commissioning, it became clear that they were neither audio nor flimsy projects. I was particularly concerned about the FCT when the Tinubu administration came on board.
When we heard some of the names being initially bandied as possible FCT ministers, the mind cut. There was that palpable fear that the city was finally going down the drain. The eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari had left the city of Abuja and the satellite towns in complete stagnation. The then minister, who was retained by the president for eight years was not just sleeping, he was like a child sent on an errand but who busied himself counting every ant and lizard he saw on the way. You can be sure that the child would need more than 24 hours to deliver. Buhari’ minister spent eight years delivering nothing that the FCT needed. He was building public toilets in every open space he came across, as if it was thinkable to see modern houses without toilets! Abuja is a modern city, so why should a minister who is governing the capital concern himself with building public toilets on every available or commandeered space.
I saw that the minister abandoned all the projects started under the tenure of Senator Bala Mohammed and allowed the city to rot. The Goodluck Jonathan Expressway was left at the same spot beside the Central Bank for eight years, same as the Inner Southern Expressway (INEX) and some of the roads Wike is now completing. We have to recall that Senator Bala Mohammed (now governor of Bauchi State) also wasted so much time and failed to complete many of those roads in his five year tenure.
I will say without blinking an eye that the FCT has not been lucky to have dedicated ministers since President Olusegun Obasanjo restored the Abuja Masterplan through Mallam Nasir el-Rufai between 2003 and 2007. The man who took over from the former Kaduna governor was Senator Adamu Aliero, himself a former Kebbi State governor. Even though his boss, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua had awarded the construction of the Airport/Kubwa Expressways, he could not do much until President Jonathan took over and finished the job in record time. And that was Bala Mohammed’s main offering as minister in five years. Except for the Banex junction/Mabushi/Gwarinpa junction road, which he commissioned, the former senator only succeeded in leaving a long list of ongoing projects in the FCT. The situation was compounded under the eight years of Buhari when Mallam Muhammed Bello left most of the projects that could positively impact lives in the FCT comatose.
And I could see that living in the FCT was already becoming dire within those years. Those who must drive into the city centre from Kubwa, Mararaba/Nyanya, Airport Road were already bearing the brunt in the early morning and evening hours as they experienced inexplicable traffic jams at points they never, ever imagined, hitherto. Those that have 5 or 6 pm flights to catch were being forced to miss their flights or having to face the airport hours before the flight so they won’t get stuck at Lugbe axis. If you must drive through the Kubwa Expressway from the Gwarinpa/Charly Boy/Galadimawa axis by 7am, you will think that all the vehicles in Nigeria have converged on that point. The same goes for those wanting to enter the Central Area through the City Gate in the morning hours. Those coming in from Nyanya/Mararaba axis also waste long hours in the early morning and evening traffic. The long file of vehicles you see on those roads clinging to themselves bumper-to- bumper would conveniently contest the Lagos traffic.
In fact, some residents of Kubwa, Airport Road and Mararaba/Karu/Nyanya have returned to what Kubwa, Karu and Nyanya residents used to do in those days before the Jonathan administration fixed the Airport/Kubwa Road. They would close at work but hang around in some gardens or neighbourhood parks till say 10pm before they could drive to their homes. At one point, some people started asking the question why the previous governments had to bring the capital city to Abuja if the same problem that confronted everyone in Lagos is still being replicated in the new capital. But the traffic jams of Abuja were not by design. They are a result of the indolent ministers who sat on the ministerial seat in some recent years.
By design, the FCT is supposed to be serviced by four Ring Roads. Ring Road 1(RR1) is functional. Only one-third of Ring Road 2 (RR2) has been fixed, while work has not commenced on Ring Road 3(RR3) at all. All these Ring Roads have ancillary roads that connect them to the different parts of the city, such that traffic from the Southern and Northern parts of the city won’t need to converge at the City Gate before facing the airport. RR1 and RR2 would conveniently take care of those leaving for the airport from Asokoro, Guzape, Wuse, Central Area, Games Village or Garki, while those in Maitama, Gwarinpa, Kado and Kubwa and nearby areas could locate the airport through RR3. The point of convergence would only be around the Kuje bridge, which is like a stone’s throw to the airport. Already, everyone can attest to the near perfect interconnectivity of roads within the city centre as well as Asokoro, Maitama, Garki axes, and other parts of the capital city.
What the former ministers who failed to build Abuja didn’t know is that the population of the city balloons every four years. The National Assembly members who get changed almost every four years drop one set of aides or the other, who would find themselves at home in the capital. The same is true of ministers and other appointees of government. Those who failed to build the city did not know that they were only killing the dream of a new Nigeria. If there is a city that evokes the feeling that Nigeria can be great again, that is Abuja. It is a signal that our leaders can indeed start something and get it done. It was a vast forest land occupied by some humans whose farmlands were being constantly assaulted by apes, baboons, lions, and other occupants of the wild. I remember that one FCT occupant derided the Jabi axis as monkey-infested area when he was offered land there many years ago. So, if we can make something out of such an area, it should be a good testimony that something good can still come out of Nigeria.
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Now that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has started giving life to the myriads of roads that were hitherto abandoned or not catered for in the capital, Hope indeed is on the horizon. The former Rivers State governor had earned himself Mr. Projects before landing in Abuja. His activities thus far have shown that he truly earned that sobriquet. But he needs to earn himself the numero uno title of being the architect of modern FCT. Right now, opinions would be divided as per who should wear that crown between him and El-Rufai. Yes, the former Kaduna governor opened the city, and restored its Masterplan, thanks to Obasanjo’s firm backing, but Wike as the man in the saddle today has every chance to outdo all his predecessors in that office. In two years, he is already knocking on the door. He deserves all the support President Tinubu can offer him.
Now that he has started fixing the Arterial Roads linking Ring Road 3, it is time he awards the contract for the construction of that Ring Road. He should also fix Ring Road 2, the road linking Apo to Kuje and the road linking Kuje to Gwagwalada. He should fix the ancillary roads to the Outer Northern Expressway (OSEX) and complete the ongoing works on the Inner Southern Expressway (INEX) and the Southern Parkway. He should open the city up such that traffic can flow morning, afternoon, and night. He should make living worthwhile in such a new capital.
Looking at the way he picked up his assignment, one is not in doubt that he will deliver, and Nigerians of all walks of life would stand behind him to do just that.
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