January 1st, 2020 was not just a new day, it was a new year and also a new decade. Nations plan ahead of the new decade to ensure that they are not left behind in this highly innovative and competitive world. Efforts are geared towards scientific discoveries and advancement, which necessitate sound education, security, housing, efficient traffic management, good infrastructural network of roads, rails, water etc and the establishment and development of satellite towns to ensure that the city centre is not overburdened with the daily influx of people. The nation’s capital is always the signpost and reflection of the entire country. It is the most important tourist centre of the country. Majority of the foreign heads of state that visit the country end their visits in the nation’s capital and whatever impression they have of the country’s capital becomes their perception of the whole country. All the US Presidents that have visited Nigeria since the advent of democracy in 1999 started and ended their visits in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the nation’s capital. This underscores the need for any government of the day to take extra care of the nation’s capital.
On the 26th of November, 2019, the general public was invited to the opening ceremony of a one-week 2019 proudly Nigeria expo trade fair for made in Nigeria goods and services organised by Helpline Foundation For The Needy, Abuja, at the Old Parade ground, Area 10, Garki, Abuja, with the tacit support of the Ministry and Minister of the FCT, Muhammad Bello. I found that thrilling as an Ambassador for made in Nigeria goods
. This trade fair showcased numerous inventions by young talented Nigerians in all spheres of human endeavours. You had one David Paul that invented a fueless generator, Ismaila Surajo, who invented a mini tractor which he uses to transport water and farm produce to and fro the farmlands. Others include Williams Chibuzo, Usman Abubakar, Adefemi Ali, Matthew Ayim, David Ogiri, James Justus, Yahaya Husseni, and so on each with his commendable invention.
These inventions underlines the commitment of the FCT to sound education of the dwellers of the city which encompass the different peoples of Nigeria. The FCT, is one of the few states where public schools work. The Honourable Minister of the FCT has shown that he provides conducive learning environment for students to put in their best. This effort showed itself conspicuously in the latest winners of the 774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award (774 YONSPA 2020) organised by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. Master Aimofumhe Eshiobomhe Sigmus, who represented FCT at the National Final Competition of 774 YONSPA, 2020 held in Abuja between 1st and 3rd of March, 2020 is a student of the FCT School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada. He was the second-place winner of the competition and was presented with cash gift and scholarship to study to any level he chooses academically including the PHD. There is no doubt that if you go to most of the public schools of the FCT, you will see series of renovations, expansions, rehabilitation of laboratories, renovation of hostels and construction of new blocks of classroom. So, the enabling environment is being created for the students to excel academically and ensure the result we are seeing today in the FCT and the Minister, Muhammed Bello, deserves commendation.
However, there is an ugly vice which is pervading the entire educational system of our country today and this is the issue of cultism. It is terrible wherever it is found but it will be disastrous if allowed in the FCT, as this will destroy the tourist attraction of Nigeria. Just recently, it is disheartening that forty six persons suspected to be cultists and who were arrested by the FCT Police Command at Gwako village in Gwagwalada with two locally made pistols and a round of cartridge are mostly students of the University of Abuja . The villagers and security agencies termed them kidnappers. They called themselves cultists. For the avoidance of doubt, a kidnapper is the worst case of an armed robber because kidnapping involves the forceful abduction of human beings usually by armed persons for ritual or ransom commercial purposes. Wherever students are found to be cultists in higher institutions, it is discovered that those cultists try to establish satellite cult branches in secondary schools to catch them young and indoctrinate them. The FCT administration must rise now and raise a team of inspectors that must be going round the public schools to ensure that this ugly vice do not find its way into our secondary schools. Motivational and religious speakers should be deployed to these schools to educate the young students on the evil of cultism and teach them the fear of God.
Related to the issue of cultism is the issue of security. Wherever cultism abounds, robberies, kidnapping, thuggery, banditry etc becomes inevitable. FCT, no doubt, has done well in the area of security relative to other states of the federation but in the next decade we should be talking about prevention and not cure. We should be able to stop crimes before they happen. This involves sufficient street lighting, installed street video cameras and a strong intelligence gathering unit to forestall any attempt at crime. No government derives joy in inflicting injuries on its citizens, so the more sophisticated the preventive power of a government is in the fight against crime, the more safe and sound the citizens are and the less collateral damage will result because once a crime is carried out it leads to heavy casualties on the citizenry.
Abuja, being the capital of the most populous black nation on earth, is densely populated and the population grows in leaps and bounds every day. Population brings along with it the problem of inadequate housing and medical facilities. It is disheartening that many houses are empty in Abuja yet people are homeless. These unoccupied and at times uncompleted buildings pose security risks as they can easily become hideouts for criminals and sometimes destitutes with dangerous contagious diseases which can spread to other people easily. In the next decade, efforts must be made to ensure that no house is uncompleted and unoccupied for a long time.
The issue of health must be addressed head on in the next decade. All the public hospitals in Abuja, including Aso rock clinic, need rehabilitation. They suffer from lack of modern equipments and well trained staff to cover a city like Abuja. The politicians and rich people travel abroad for treatment of all sickness. The outbreak of coronavirus has taught us a lesson. There will come a time when the countries abroad will disallow us from coming into their countries for treatment because they are equally overwhelmed by the requirements to take care of their own citizens. Abuja has recorded the first coronavirus death even though the disease became rampant first in Lagos. Being the capital city, people travel from all over the world into Abuja city. In the next decade we must evolve a proactive medical system that will cater for the needs of the teeming population.
It is obvious that the implementation of these laudable projects require money. It is bad enough that in the year 2019, the FCT was appropriated the sum of N23,023,593,146.00 for its National Budget but as at the time of the presentation of the FCT 2020 National Budget proposal by the Minister of the FCT to the National Assembly on the 18th October, 2019, no release was made to the FCTA indicating 0% level of budget performance. It will be catastrophic in the face of the coronavirus pandemic to repeat such a process. The next decade should witness a deliberate effort by the Federal Government to increase substantially the budget of the FCT and sustain it to enable the FCTA secure, educate, develop Abuja to become an outstanding capital city amidst other capital cities on earth.