The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has assured residents of the Dutse Alhaji and Bwari of the administration commitment to ensure that the contractor handling the road project complete it in two months.

Speaks on behalf of the Administration, the Chairman, FCT Ministerial Task Team on Decongestion of Traffic, Comrade Ikharo Attah, appealed to residents for understanding , saying, he is confident that very soon, the job will be delivered.

According to Attah ; ‘’Without mincing words, am very confident that this work will be delivered in the next two months but we shall continue to appeal to residents to be a little patient and show understanding as all the FCT efforts is aimed at relieving your burdens from this unwarranted gridlock’’.

‘’We believe that the security officers would be very much on ground to ensure a free flow of traffic through out this hard periods, we are appealing to all motorists and commuters to please bare with the administration for the pains because it is for this reason the FCT Ministers and Permanent Secretary decided to expand this stretch of the road’’.

On his part, the FCDA Representative, Engr. Bayo Baderiwa gave the assurance that the company will deliver good job and meet the two months target as the contractor and FCDA authority would be on ground day and knight .

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) along Dutse Alhaji and Bwari have urged the FCT authorities to hasten up the on going road expansion project along that road axis.

They criticized the slow pace of work going on along the Dutse-Alhaji/ Bwari road, stressing that the delay has brought untold hardship and lost of quality man-hours to residents of the area.

The project which was awarded by the Federal Capital Development Authority to Setraco Construction Company (SCC) is part of efforts aimed at reducing the daily traffic gridlock experienced on that road axis.

A resident of Bwari , Mr. Johnson Bello, told newsmen that residents along the road leave home to work by 5.30am daily to enable them get to their work places in Abuja city centre to avoid the perennial traffic gridlock.

Also commenting, a Driver, Alhaji Ismaila Murktar said that they do not only face severe gridlock but also experience daily extortion by traffic officers.

He said, ‘’There is no doubt that the FCT administration is even helping us by expanding the road but we are begging them to hasten the completion of this road.

In her remarks, the Assistant Corps Unit Commander, Duste Alhaji of Federal Road Safety Corps [FRSC], Aderonke Dele, rehretted that the major problem they have in hand is the refusal of Uniform men to obey traffic rules and guidelins.

She noted, “We are capable of easying the traffic here despite the ongoing road expansion works but most uniform officers driving along this road usually follow one way, this is not good enough.”

Hope of parents who were excited that their kids are returning to schools after seven months of sit at home due to the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) dashed following the decision of teachers to chase their pupils home.

The teachers under the auspices of the FCT Council of the Nigeria Union of Teachers NUT noted that Area Council Chairmen in the territory have refused to implement the national minimum wage as well as payment of arrears.

Our correspondent who visited one of the LEA Primary School in Kubwa which also houses the Junior Secondary School, Kubwa, the pupils had been chased out of their classrooms from as early as 8am. Only students of the junior secondary school were allowed in, as Secondary school teachers had been paid by the FCT Administration.

It would be recalled that earlier in September, Chairman of the Union, Stephen Knabayi had directed members not to resume work whenever schools were reopened.

He said while the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has commenced the payment of the new minimum wage, the six Area Councils in the territory who are saddled with the payment of primary school teachers have refused to budge.

The FCTA had on October 8 slated the reopening of schools in the territory for Monday, October 12, announcing the cancellation of Third Term and equally warning private schools against demanding fees for the cancelled term.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello who gave the directives at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja however added that all boarding schools would be reopened a day earlier.

The  Minister of the federal Capital  Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has reiterated the commitment of the Administration to support staff cooperative housing schemes.

While saying that , one of the greatest desires of a family is to own a house.

He made this known  when he performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the 404 unit staff housing estate of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council’s Cooperative Society at the Wasa District of the FCT yesterday.

According to him; “with the FCTA’s staff strength of over 27000 you will agree with me that so many of our compatriots within the staff structure of the FCT would desire to have their homes.”

He commended the AMMC Staff Cooperative Society for embarking on the project and pledged the support of the FCTA to ensure its completion while calling on other cooperative societies to emulate the foresight of the AMMC Cooperative Society.

Saying, the action of the AMMC Cooperative Society, the Minister said was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of providing housing to Nigerians in order to bridge the current national housing deficit.

Earlier, the President of the Cooperative Engr Muhammad Hamisu disclosed that the plot measuring 4.2 hectares was allocated in 2015 and will contain 404 housing units made up of 224 flats in one bedroom block of flats. 112 flats contained in 2 bedroom block of flats and 68 flats contained in three bedroom terraces.

He also revealed that the cooperative society was collaborating with the Federal Mortgage Bank and Mutual Alliance Mortgage Bank as the major financiers of the project while the Abuja Property Development Company, (APDC) is the project developer.

The project which is expected to cost 1.5 billion Naira is scheduled to be completed in 2023, Engr Hamisu added.

He also expressed the appreciation of the cooperative to the FCT Minister for granting a waiver on the sum of 9.8 million Naira being the cost of building plan approval fees. He also revealed that the sum of 4.5 million Naira was expended as compensation to the indigenous people affected by the construction.

Present at the event were the Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, Executive Secretary, FCDA Engr Umar Gambo Jibrin, Director of Engineering, FCDA, Acting Coordinator, AMMC, Mallam Muhammed Sulaiman, Acting Coordinator Satellite Town Development Department, (STDD) Engr Felix Nwankwo amongst other senior members of staff of the FCTA.

Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State, has condemned in a strong terms the abductions of the former Vice Chairman of Kuje Area Council along side some members of the council’s legislative arm by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.  

She , however, described the incident as unfortunate and heinous, while , regretting that the cases of abductions have become so rampant especially in Kuje Area Council of the territory.  

The minister, also assured that the FCT Administration would take drastic measures to address the situation, while appealing to residents of the community to remain calm as efforts are place to recover all kidnapped victims.  

Her words; “It is regrettable and unfortunate that we are still having cases of abductions and kidnappings of innocent citizens in the Federal Capital Territory. It is regrettable because this is the seat of government and we must do everything possible to put to an end this senseless killings and abductions of residents in the territory.  

“However, I want to appeal to residents especially those in the Area Councils to remain calm, as the FCT Administration under the leadership of Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, is working assiduously to protect lives and property of residents. I want to assure you that the security agencies are on top of the situation,” the minister stated.  

It would be recalled that gunmen suspected to be kidnappers stormed Pegi community early hour of Sunday and abducted the Council Vice Chairman, Hon. Mohammed Baba, Legislative members and some political aides.

As Schools in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) resume after seven months of Covid-19 break and anxiety, the is organising a two-day intra-action review workshop in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

The Acting Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS) Dr. Mohammed Kawu, made this known in a press statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.

He hinted that the intra-action review is critical at this point to enable relevant stakeholders to collectively review the current response approach so as to identify challenges, adopt best practices and re-strategize for improved response.

His words; “The review meeting which is expected to hold between October 13 and 14, 2020, “will also help to document lessons learned, share experiences and utilize available evidence to plan for future outbreaks.

“One of the key focus of the workshop will be to build consensus amongst relevant stakeholders with specific target on full decentralization of the response to the Area Councils”.

“Other key targets of the review meeting include improving community engagement and participation in the response, sustaining safety measures in FCT schools, improving enforcement of preventive measures and integrating the distribution of palliatives with the response activities”, he stressed.

It would be recalled that on the 20th of March 2020 the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), confirmed the first COVID-19 case. Following the confirmation, a multi-sectoral Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated to coordinate the outbreak response in collaboration with Partners.

Dr. Kawu pointed out that the response strategy is based on an Incident Management System (IMS) with thematic areas focusing on Surveillance and Epidemiology, Laboratory, Infection Prevention and Control, Health and Safety, Case management, Risk communication, Logistics, Coordination, and Research.

“An incident action plan (IAP) was developed to guide the response with an overarching goal of containing the spread of COVID-19 in the FCT”, he said.