Senator Usman Jibril Wowo is the Senior Special Assistant to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister on National Assembly, Budget and Political Matters. In this interview with reporters in his office, the PDP chieftain in the Territory spoke on a wide range of issues and emphasized that the PDP is ready to coast to victory in Saturday’s election. OSaretin Ekiadolor was there for Newsdiary online
How prepared is the PDP for the March 16 elections?
March 16 is a date we are looking forward to with very high expectations. I say so because it is a day we expect all the people of the FCT in all the area councils to come out and make a bold statement on the popularity of the PDP renewing the party’s mandate to steer the affairs of the FCT in all the six area councils. In all the areas we have visited so far during our campaigns, we did not only outline our party’s reach manifesto but also told the people about our programmes and policy that would promote a healthy and better living for all of us. As you may already be aware, the PDP controls four out of the six area councils in FCT. But the interesting thing is that the performance of our four chairmen is so remarkable and people oriented that the electorate in the two area councils not controlled by us that is, Kwali and Gwagwalada are eagerly waiting for the election day in order to have the opportunity to vote in our candidates for them to enjoy
the dividends of democracy which they have been missing all along.
But do you think the PDP stands a good chance of winning the election in the face of the present merger of the opposition parties and the formation of APC?
The PDP at the national level and in the FCT especially, is not afraid of the merger by the opposition parties; we are fully on ground across the FCT especially when you take into consideration the fact that we are already administering four councils out of the six in the FCT. Our prayers and expectation is to sweep the FCT council election by landslide, freely given by the electorate who are at the centre of democracy and in whom power resides in a democratic election.
What are the programs of the PDP in the FCT for the Area councils that you think will get you the needed support you are calling for?
All our chairmen who are re-contesting the election have performed creditably high and their programmes and policies have impacted positively on the people. There have been massive construction of schools in all the nook and crannies of the area councils, boreholes have been provided to increase the residents access to portable water and above all, feeder roads have been constructed to facilitate the movement of the people particular our rural farmers who are now able to transport their farm produce to the markets with ease. So with all these development strides, we believe that the people will not find any better alternative than to vote massively for the PDP so that the party can provide more of these good things of life.
Accommodation in the FCT has been a serious challenge, and the people you are calling on to vote for you are faced with this challenge, how do you think your party can deliver on this aspect?
The Hon. Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has told the residents of the FCT that the Administration has come up with a programme of mass housing with particular interest for affordable housing where the electorate and residents of the FCT will have access to accommodations and also own their own homes. You may recall that the FCT Administration signed a Memoradum of Understanding (MoU) with 13 Land-Swap investors for the opening up of 8 new districts in Abuja. That is one of the land mark policies aimed at ensuring the take-off of FCT Social Housing Scheme. Under the policy, the minister approved the allocation of 50 hectares of land for the first phase of the Abuja Social Housing Initiative while another 1,000hectares of land is to be set aside for the Federal Mortgage Bank to build decent and affordable houses. All of these is aimed at providing affordable housing to medium and low-income earners.
The land swap programme of the FCT Administration is laudable as you noted but many people are saying that the project is situated in the city centre alone, what about the satellite towns where the bulk of FCT populations reside how are they captured in this programme?
The Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) to fast track engineering the development infrastructure in the satellite towns of the Territory.
So (when) Will this development reach the area council and satellite towns?
Absolutely! It is as a result of this that STDA was created mainly to focus on the area council and the rural areas to provide social amenities and other important things of life within the suburb of the FCT. We realize also that to arrest the issue of accommodation in the FCT we have to open up the Area Council and make them good so that people do not have to think that the only place they can have social amenities is only in the city. That is not the thinking of this administration. Once you open up these places people can go there and get themselves an apartment and choose to live in these places there by reducing the programmes in the city. The Satellite Town Development Agency is being strengthened to do this, which I can assure you that when completed Abuja will be a territory with wide appeal to all class of people.
The new transport policy targeted at creating reducing congestion on the roads is caused a stir which the minister has addressed through wide consultation but he people still fear losing of their jobs when the restrictions begins?
No, it is not correct to say so because there is opportunity for all under the new transport policy. The administration has earmarked the sum ofN500 million to ensure that those that may be affected by the new Feeder Routes and Traffic Regulations especially the Mini-Bus operators are adequately catered for.
The FCT Administration is not implementing this new land transport policy to inflict pains on any transport operator or commuters but to reduce transportation time and I can assure you that everything that is being done is in the overall interest of residents of Abuja.
Infact if the mini-bus understand this policy very well, they will realize that they will have more work to do now than before because they now have access to many routes that they were not plying before. Therefore nobody is going lose their jobs but rather the people will be more empowered under this policy because what the FCT Administration is doing is restricting their operations to certain areas of the Federal Capital City and allowing them to operate freely on other routes.
In addition to that, The Multi-Billion-Naira Abuja Light Rail Project is also on course as you are aware, the FCT Administration recently signed an MoU agreement of the $500M loan that will be provided by the Chinese to continue with the Light Rail project. This is a major achievement by this administration because when completed, the Abuja light rail will move people to and from the outskirts to the centre of the Federal Capital City within a short record time, enhance the FCT residents’ economic power as well as decongesting the city.
