By Attah Ede
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday gave serious warnings to the Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council AMAC, Christopher Maikalangu and the Mandate Secretary for Education, Dr Danlami Hayyo against engaging in street naming racketeering.
He also said that his administration would no longer tolerate incompetence in service delivery.
The minister who spoke during the flag-off of engineering infrastructure for Guzape District (Cadastral Zone A09, Lots 1 and 2) and the AIT neighbourhood in Asokoro (Cadastral Zone A04), insisted that the era of “sale of street names” in Abuja by those he called unscrupulous officials are over.
“You don’t just wake up because somebody has ₦2 million and then name a very important street after them. That is not possible.
“I have forgiven you till yesterday but from today, I won’t forgive such acts. If people have paid you money, better go and refund it. Streets must be named after those who have contributed meaningfully to the development of the city and the country. You cannot commercialize our heritage”, he warned.
Addressing the FCT Mandate Secretary for Education, Wike directed him to produce a verifiable, electronic record of all rehabilitated, ongoing and planned schools across the six Area Councils since August 2023, or lose his job.
“I have told him, if he doesn’t bring it, another person will take his job. If I am going to do it alone, then there is no need to have a Mandate Secretary of Education.
“It is because I and the Minister of State cannot do it alone that we have Mandate Secretaries. Nigerians must see, school by school, council by council, what we have done. It is no longer 3D job; it is operation show your report card. Seeing is believing”, the minister maintained.
He attributed the projects to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, stressing that the current administration was determined to deliver infrastructure where previous governments failed.
According to him, those who live in the areas of the projects know that for years, there were no roads but now that Tinubu has come, there is road.
He however appealed to the contractors, Dantata and Sawoe, to deliver the projects on schedule and employ local youths to boost livelihoods, warning residents against frustrating construction timelines.
Earlier, Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority FCDA, Engr. Richard Yunana Dauda, said the contracts, first awarded in 2005, cover about 24 roads totaling 9.2 kilometers with provisions for asphalt surfacing, drainage, streetlights, power and water supply networks, and telecommunication ducts
