Recently, the presidency announced names of ministers-designate with their portfolios, among whom is a former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The excitement that greeted his appointment was unprecedented. ThisNigeria looks at the mystique of Wike as a well-known personality not new to Nigerians. Apart from the achievement he recorded as the governor of Rivers State, Wike also consolidated his performance as a Minister of State for Education. Mr. Project, as he is famously known, is set to perform once again. Wike, the bold, courageous, and fearless politician often dares the impossible and achieves results. As it is FCT residents are anxious as he resumes office on Capital Street, Area 11. Awaiting his arrival, our reporters Linus Aleke, Deborah Onyofufeke, and Ben Adoga combed the streets and heard from the people the most pressing and urgent things they wanted the new minister to tackle

Commandant Isaac David, former special assistant on youth matters to an ex-FCT minister

I look forward to Wike replicating the giant strides he recorded in Port Harcourt in terms of infrastructural development in Abuja. I am delighted that Wike is the new FCT Minister because Abuja is the seat of Nigeria’s government, it would have been a disservice to the country if President Bola Tinubu had appointed someone who is not experienced in how to manage a capital city as the FCT minister. Given the background of Wike, I am very confident that Abuja will experience a facelift. I would like to see Wike maintain a strict adherence to the Abuja master plan, restore normalcy in the area of security, and strongly commit to nation building and he knows the former governor possesses the boldness and charisma to achieve this. Most importantly, I will urge the minister to carry along all Abuja indigenous stakeholders, especially the youth, in the scheme of running the government because a proper understanding of the complex nature and structure of Abuja warrants that the minister needs to work hand-in-hand with these original inhabitants and the residents for a successful tenure. I am appealing to Wike to look into the constitutional rights and identity of the FCT natives.

*Ayodeji Akinyala, an investment banker from Osun State

As an FCT resident, I would like for the new FCT minister, Wike, to flood Abuja with street lights, look into the issue of security, and get rid of the makeshift to make way for standard houses in places like Maitama, Wuse, Asokoro, and other highbrow areas. It would just be nice to give the city a befitting facelift as the Federal Capital Territory. Get the Federal Road Safety Commission FRSC to work 24/7 and keep the cars and drivers in order. These cab people are very rough.

*Blessing Moses, Communications Manager of the Abuja Original Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO)

I am calling on Nyesom Wike to recognise the plight of the FCT original inhabitants, especially the challenges faced by Abuja natives in the area of demolition. The original inhabitants are not carried along because most of them are not educated and don’t know their rights when it comes to their land. The truth is they need to be well-educated on how to go about selling it. Because they were not well exposed or learned on the issue, the people, the buyers, the estate persons, just come in and cheat them and go, and they keep pushing them and relegating them to the background. So, we want the original inhabitants to be well recognised. The Abuja original natives should be included in the welcome to Abuja symbol at the city gate. For example, we want it included in the welcome to Abuja symbol that there are original inhabitants in the FCT. We want it to be known that there were people here before it was made the Federal Capital Territory. We also want to be recognised in other ways; not just in land matters, but in representation. If the new FCT minister can help in the total representation of the FCT, even if it is not the governorship status, then the senatorial district should be increased. They should create more area councils. When it comes to representation in government, I want him to look into all of this because the original inhabitants, for so long, have suffered so much marginalisation and I think it is time for compensation. The youths are waking up; they are being aware. The youths do not want the old ways of doing things, they are yearning for dialogue, and inclusion to bring a solution to the plight of the original inhabitants. So, we are hoping that he will recognise all of this plight. I also want him to recognise the FCT indigenes, and not just the residents as well, but all of the area councils. The people in the communities should feel the presence of a new FCT minister.

*Chief Sanya Easy Zakka

He should carry the indigenes along by ensuring that their homes and communities are protected, especially given the fact that we have been here before our home was made the FCT. I want him to also know that we the indigenes, are orphans, we don’t have anybody in government to fight for us. So, I believe God has brought him to help remove us from what I call captivity. We, the indigenes, our farmlands have been taken over without adequate compensation and our homes are not safe because you will just be in your ancestral home, in your community, and someone will come and tell you that you are on their plot. Developers will come without any consideration with caterpillars, police, and soldiers and begin to demolish the community, shoot them with their guns and this has led to some of the indigenes becoming tenants in their ancestral home or being forced to go and live outside Abuja. I am a victim and I am in pain because my son was shot, my house demolished, and we were beaten. I was still detained after the beating and forced to give my land to the developer who used my land for business. I will want him to carry us along and give us our rights. Our rights in the sense that if our land has been given to a developer, then the owner of the land or the community should be compensated for the allocated plot. If it is their farmland, they should be considered and compensated adequately. We don’t have any benefit in government. We have seen the hard work Wike did in Port-Harcourt and hope he will use that pattern and carry us along. We appreciate Tinubu for choosing one of our own as minister.

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Dr Ifedi Okwenna, an Abuja resident and former Special Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on Political Matters

FCT started very well as a capital city in the 80s and 90s. The city was well planned into different stages of development. Unfortunately, the planned target was not met, and today, FCT is far underdeveloped. It is not where it is supposed to be. The projected population of the city has since been exceeded. FCT is a city made for the civil service, a government-designated city, but today it has become everything, especially as it relates to security threats bedevilling the country. Kaduna has lost its glory, Enugu is not doing well, and Ibadan is also not doing well. Most of those regional capitals have since lost their developmental strides, so, everybody is migrating to Abuja. The FCT is now the number one destination choice in Nigeria. The FCT, as we all know, is the city of Mr. President, he is the governor of FCT, and he only delegates authority to a minister who acts on his behalf. So, the Minister of FCT is working on delegated power, and because he is working on delegated power, his successes must be a success for the president. If he is not doing well, then the president is not doing well. The minister must look at transportation because we have lost it all in Abuja. With the current situation, an effort must be made to look into transportation management. We must think of the rail transportation system, the mono-rail and other railway systems seem to be absent in the city, and there is no modern city where you find yourself without a rail system. The new minister must prioritise transport management. The minister also needs to look at the issue of cameras. As a modern city, there is no need to capture happenings in major areas of the city. That is what modern crime management is all about. Crime is progressively increasing in different parts of the city. So, effort must be made in managing crime and improving the security of the city by ensuring that cameras are installed in strategic positions. The security management system needs to be automated. We must also think of infrastructure, as little as street lights. They are no longer as effective as they used to be in FCT. So, something must be done to address that. More roads need to be constructed and new districts need to be opened up and developed. The phases of development in the FCT seem not to have been met. Aside from phases one and two that met the target, other phases could not meet their target. You discover that development has gone to phase five, while phase three is not developed at all. Imagine the movement between Area One and Durumi. Area One has become an old city. But look at Durumi, next to it, it lacks infrastructure. These are some of the things that the new minister and by implication, the president, who is the governor of FCT must address to bring Abuja up to speed with other modern state capitals in the world. The water supply in the city has long been forgotten. Abuja was serviced by Usman Dam when it was still a very small city. Today, most parts of Abuja have no urban water supply, and it is unfortunate. Electricity is also becoming increasingly epileptic. We cannot compare it with what it used to be. So, a lot needs to be done. The Minister should not come to do land speculation as his predecessors did. They spend time speculating on land, demolishing structures, and grabbing land originally owned by others and before they know it, the life span of the administration is over.

Ogbole Amedu-Ode, retired Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico

The ministry I know has experts in all facets of urban development; infrastructure, security, sanitation, urban renewal, name it. The new minister should, therefore, make use of all these experts at his disposal to bring Abuja up to speed with modern cities in the world. If you look at his predecessors, most of them were more interested in land allocation. He needs to tackle the issue of land racketeering. Many highly-placed individuals had been caught in the web of this land racketeering in the FCT. I will also recommend that he visits a city like Singapore to bring himself up to date with how modern cities are managed in line with international best practices.

Ochiaka Ugwu, Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Council

Abuja is amongst the fastest developing cities in Africa. And in a growing city like the FCT, the infrastructure is always overstretched because of the influx of people. You are also aware that there is rural-urban migration in Nigeria and the destination for most young graduates seeking white-collar jobs is the FCT. This continued migration takes a toll on the existing infrastructure in the city. So, as a matter of urgency, the new FCT Minister, who is also code-named Mr. Projects should attend to the infrastructural needs of the city. He needs to also consider the railway system as a viable means of addressing the transportation challenges in the city. With an efficient rail transportation system in FCT, cars would be taken off the roads, and the issue of traffic congestion in most districts in FCT will naturally disappear. There should be an efficient rail system that connects the city centre with all the satellite towns. There should be mega stations in strategic locations like the Berger Junction, Area 1, Federal Secretariat, and Jabi. From the station, people can easily access their offices or business premises. He should open up the area councils with adequate infrastructure to decongest Abuja Municipal Area Council. He must also pay serious attention to the security of the city. He needs to partner with all the states that border FCT, like Nasarawa, Niger, Kaduna, and Kogi so that criminals will not use the states as a launching pad to commit crimes in FCT and retire back. He needs to rethink the security architecture of the city for efficient management of crime and criminalities.

*Mr Antonio Kunle, retired senior civil servant, lives in Gidan Mangoro, Abuja

Knowing Wike for who he is, I expect that he hits the ground running. There are a lot of issues, especially security. I will want him to tackle security issues in the FCT. At the moment, there is lots of indiscipline in Abuja; rascals all over, as if this is no longer the nation’s capital. I will also like him to give priority to roads, especially outside the city centre. People who are not residing in Wuse and other parts of the city centre are suffering; the roads are very bad. Wike should also give serious thought to housing as accommodation is a challenge in the FCT.

Mr Alex Joseph resides at the Army Post-Housing Estate in Kurudu, Abuja

I will like Wike to look into the economic aspect of the FCT; the cost of living to be precise. The housing aspect is very important because that is where most of the workers spend their money and almost all their earnings. If you look at those who are not landlords, their annual salary is mainly spent on rent. The remaining is left for transportation, feeding, and medicals. Besides these, I will want the new minister to look into infrastructure; roads, especially satellite towns like the Nyanya axis. Most of the workers that go to the city centre to work come from the Nyanya axis. Though we thank God for the rehabilitation of the major road through Kugbo down to Nyanya, we need some openings. The Karu-Jikwoyi-Karshi road can also be opened and linked with the Apo-Ara-Karshi, which has taken forever to do without completion. The same road can be opened through Karshi to Abaji to link the Lokoja road, as well as linking Nasarawa State through Papaladna or Uke. All these will naturally ease traffic on this axis as well as decongest the city centre. These will also bring about development in these areas. Once there are access roads, plot owners will develop and ease part of the housing challenge of the FCT. In addition, some of the ministries and parastatals can be brought closer to the people by decentralising them. Instead of congesting all government functionaries in the city centre, especially FCTA offices and Satellite Towns Development Department offices and other Federal Government offices should be taken to satellite towns in various locations and area councils. This will enhance development and reduce the cost of transportation for workers who will simply reside in such locations. Schools and medicals too should be his priority. The public primary and secondary schools are not enough, being the reason why private schools are exploiting parents so much. As he builds more public schools, the welfare of teachers should be considered too. At the moment, the influx of children to private schools has made private school owners jack up their prices. Some of us can no longer afford it. Hospitals remain key to a healthy population, which is the workforce. Affordable drugs should be considered too. Some residents are afraid to go to hospitals or take their children to hospitals because of the cost implication. If Wike looks into these areas as priority areas, the citizens or residents of the FCT will be happy.

Elder David Pembi, a retired military officer and media practitioner

I wish Nigerians can be objective and not sentimental. The new minister is an Ibo man, not Arewa and not Gbagyi. That is irrelevant. I say this because the position of the minister is not just to satisfy some people’s egos but for the national interest. In this government, everybody has some baggage. Let us not look at the baggage. As the Hausa will say, nobody is complete (nobody is 10, everybody is nine), nobody is perfect, so let’s set that aside. In the FCT, we need somebody who is dynamic like Wike, we need somebody bold like Wike. I don’t want to look at his politics, after all, it’s all about interest. Maybe he has been rewarded. He will not be rewarded for nothing, his appointment is on merit. I give kudos to Mr. President for appointing somebody like Wike, and above all to send him to the FCT. Now, what do I want? We all need that kind of dynamism in the FCT. What he did in Port Harcourt and Rivers State, let him do them here. Seeing what he did in Rivers State, that was his priority, that is infrastructure. Some other persons were in other states and had no priority. He chose infrastructure and did it, let him do the same in the FCT, we need it. Looking back, Malam Nasir el – Rufai, no matter his baggage, too did something here that we don’t forget. Since then, Abuja has not been what it used to be. Now we want Nyesom Wike to commence infrastructural development again. All I want is not where he comes from, l want him to replicate what he did in Port Harcourt in Abuja, that’s all.

Rachel Ude, lawyer, town planner, and civil servant

People are happy with his appointment for some reason. Everybody saw what he did in his state as governor. Abuja people, including myself, are simply saying, that is what Wike is known for, so replicate the same in the FCT. What I simply want him to do is infrastructure, infrastructure, and infrastructure. Wike opened up Rivers State. I want him to open up the FCT too. Going through the master plan, which is long overdue for review, only very few phases have been developed. It will be my joy if Wike will demystify development and open up communities and satellite towns. Look at a mass resettlement area like Gidan Mangoro, from zones ‘A’ to ‘D’, there are no roads. The layout of the area is now useless and has become grazing places for cows and farmlands, while residents struggle to locate their homes when it rains. With Wike, I know this will become a thing of the past. Let Wike inject life back into the FCT. Nightlife, parks, recreation, entertainment, in short, everything that makes a modern city. Abuja was designed to be a modern city, I want Wike to achieve that dream.