By Favour Nnabugwu

Unbundling of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is underway, according to the FCT Authorities. In this interview, Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister, Hajia Jemilat Tangaza, speaks on efforts on the part of the FCT ministry to make the federal capital a better place for all.  Excerpts:

You came with an idea to unbundle the FCT. How far have you gone?

I didn’t come with the idea of unbundling the FCT. The Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala AbdulKadir Mohammed, actually gave birth to that concept and I think, primarily, after having sat with him and discussed with him on the focus, and the thrust of his administration especially, how he wants to go about transforming the Federal Capital Territory, it was then that I grasped in totality all the details of his ideas of unbundling the FCT.

I think that, in my few days after joining the FCT, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Andrew Lloyd, visited the Minister on the 9th of September 2011 and l am very happy to quote him; he said, ” Abuja is my most favourite city after London”. I was quite struck by that remark, having lived in England for more than 20 years and here was a Briton and  a British Ambassador to Nigeria making such a very powerful statement.

I appreciated because it meant that something good is actually happening in Nigeria and, something certainly positive is happening in the FCT and that actually got me excited and, continued to explore more ways on how l could communicate the Honourable Minister’s vision of wanting to unbundle the FCT.

After the initial conversation with him, l came to the conclusion that the Minister wanted to unleash a city where people would want to live, to travel and a city where people will long to be. So, the Minister carried out a survey and discovered that there has to be some certain features to make the FCT a world class city. These include power, modern shopping plazas, restaurants and, most of all, beauty at night and capturing the needs of the people such as affordable and extensive public transportation system, housing among other infrastructure with no single dominant community and that is exactly what we have in Nigeria’s capital city today.

In fact, the Minister’s vision lays emphasis on the provision of sustainable infrastructure for development and the acceleration of development in the country’s capital city is what is actually driving the head-on confrontation with the existing challenges.

But there is a break in communication between the FCT administration and the residents because they don’t believe that Senator Bala Mohammed is working at all?

This is the first time I am hearing this assertion that Abuja people think that the FCT Minister is not doing anything. Quite frankly, l don’t know where you got that remark from, but, on the contrary, l have documented evidence in which people have been writing to thank the Minister in hard copy or the traditional media, through letters, through emails and text messages on facebook, on twitter and across all the numerous platforms.

Abuja was conceived as a purposeful built city and, by that, we mean, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, this is the only city that was drawn in terms of engineering, technicality, creation of infrastructure and superstructure to the point that it would become provoked by other developed cities of the world.

Abuja indeed has a master plan which was produced at the conception of the city but, unfortunately, if you are to go back to history, you will find that there had been instances during which attention had not been on the implementation of the master plan. You will appreciate the fact that, in the last couple of years, there have been concerted efforts, efforts not just in words but in action, to ensure that the sanctity of the Abuja master plan is restored and, if you have been following the utterances as well as the actions of Senator Bala Mohammed, you can tell if you are fair  and objective. The FCT Minister would always be seen to act in accordance with the master plan.

With the influx of people from the states to Abuja, what is the FCT doing to ensure that Abuja remains what it is?

When Abuja was conceived, it was thought that maybe about 2 to 2.5million people would be living in this city, but, now, the number is said to have exceeded 3.5million while some are even saying it is as high as 4.5million and, if we look at the existing infrastructure, what that means is that the influx of people is actually causing a great strain on the infrastructure: the roads, hospitals, schools, water facilities, simply because people are escaping from the difficulties and the challenges in their villages, in their states and they come to where they see as the Mega of Nigeria, they see Abuja as the land of opportunity, but  what they fail to understand is, Abuja is a carefully planned city.

Although all the past administrations and the present one are not saying people should not come to FCT, what they are saying is, when you come,  you must think in the direction and provisions of a city that has to be built based on highly structured and organised mechanisms. And  that is the difficulty we are facing.

You strive to meet  up with the pace of the influx?
When you are confronted with very little funds?

There has never been sufficient funds.

I will not agree with you on that because if you are to compare the amount that was  provided then to the influx of people, it is much less; we are talking about 33 to 50% increase in the  influx of people in 2011 and 2012 whereas you have slashed the budget. So, what we are saying is that we have to be creative and one of the ways we can be creative is when we begin to talk about things that Nigerians  don’t want to talk about; taxation. How will people react to tax? I am sure  you have been following the statement by the Senate President, Senator David Mark, in which he said that, whether or not we like it, we have to face the realities of modern  city and we have to learn to actually adopt some measures that will not go down well with the people but the choices are very difficult, but we have to do them if indeed we are to run Abuja based on the  original master plan.

If appropriate taxation succeeds in Lagos, why not in Abuja?

There is a huge relationship between the FCT, Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. However, every city has its peculiarities and has got its own cultural context. Lagos is not confronted with the issue of resettlement whereas Abuja is.

We are doing things in a respectable, dignified and human rights approach matter in line with the globally acceptable practice.

But the influx is beneficial to the FCT. If people are coming here to be productive, why not? But there are rules and people should abide by the rules. Look at China where their population has become a strength. Nigeria and the FCT population have the capacity and the potential to be turned into productivity and positiveness. What we are saying is that you have to play by the rules. Abuja plays three significant roles. One, it is the capital of the country and, as a result of that, it is the eye, the heart and the window of Nigeria. Two; Abuja is the political hub, so it plays a very significant role in the nation’s history and Nigeria’s  existence  as a political geo-entity.

People coming into Abuja are forced to sleep on the street because of high cost of rentage?

The Minister has made it clear that it is not acceptable for landlords  to impose astronomical rent on residents much more to ask them to provide two years rent.

The Minister has told us that one way to break the landlords jinx is by putting a lot of efforts in the provision of affordable houses and that is what we are trying to  do.

He has challenged his team to come up with different models for affordable homes not necessarily in the FCT but in the satellite towns where people can live decent lives without having to pay through their noses.

Will these houses get to the residents?

The cost of housing in the FCT has reached a level that is not found anywhere in the world. Abuja is terribly expensive. I am coming from London where I lived 20 years of my life and l can tell you that l know how much people pay to rent a flat, a studio flat or one-bedroom apartment even in the heart of London. Unfortunately, the cost of living in Abuja, particularly with respect to housing, has become something else, but that is not to say that we should not continue  to explore ways of making housing affordable.

How is FCT administration tackling the problem?

FCT Minister is confronting the housing problem head-on. If you been following our story, you will know that we have been doing a lot especially in the area of the land swap initiative in which we are opening up districts in order to decongest the city. And to do that, we have to open up new districts. We did the ground breaking ceremony of five new districts  in February and March and, in a couple of months from now, there is going to be the ground breaking ceremony of eight additional districts which the Minister has tagged Transformation Phase 4 Development Project where we will have a minimum  of eight districts within the life span of  this administration, that is 2015. We will be inviting the private sector because we don’t have the money to do it  ourselves. It was for that reason that  Senator Bala Mohammed has invited the private sector to join him in a special contract agreement of the land swap initiative. The private sector will be given the responsibility of providing all the engineering infrastructure which used to   be done by the FCTA.

However, FCDA is charge with the responsibility of  overseeing and ensuring that the infrastructure provided are up to standards and the agency also plays supervisory role. More so, the land swap is going to create massive jobs for both skilled and unskilled people in the FCT.