The recent statement by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Senator Bala Mohammed, that all information being filed to him by his directors and heads of agencies in the FCTA about the state of the nation’s capital were lies,is as embarrassing as it is a personal indictment of the minister. The minister’smade the comment after an inspection tour of the city during which he witnessed the real state of affairs in the city marked by environmental degradation and poor sanitation, chaotic scenes on major roads with cases ofpresence of commercial motorcyclists whose operation had been banned from the metropolis for close to a decade, among other unsavoury circumstances. “I have seen that all the information the directors have been giving me in the files are lies,” he said.
Ordinarily, the minister would have been commended for being up and doing and frank, especially for warning principal officers who are unwilling toflow with the “vision and passion” of the administration. However,our commendation rightly goes to the Senate Committee on the FCT which had aweek earlierlampooned the minister over the deplorable state of Abuja. The committee stated categorically that the city under Mohammed had deteriorated to its old state. It was in response to the criticism that the minister conducted his first tour of the city since his appointmentalmost four years ago on April 8, 2010.
Apart from the fact that Mohammed’s admission questions hisoverall competence, preparedness and capacity to occupy public office or any position of responsibility, it is also an evident marker of the cavalier attitude of many members of our ruling elite; a tendency which is largely responsible for theprofound underdevelopment of our country. Under his watch, the FCT as a whole has depreciated in all ramifications. Abuja metropolis, previously ranked as one of the neatest cities in the Nigeria, today is among the league of dirtiest cities and one of the poorly managed. While Abuja’s roads are rated among the best in Africa and globally, its traffic situation remains about the most chaotic. Worst of all, the city’s infrastructure as well as key social and essential services are in advanced stages of decay while in many parts of the city street lights and traffic lights have stopped working.
Though there is nothing bad in delegating authority to subordinates to carry out day-to-day duties required for smooth and coordinated administration of the FCT, but Mohammed’s anticsis unacceptableas they amount to blame game. Hemust accept responsibility for the ineffectiveness of those he delegated. With the aid of technology, our ruling elite do not have to depend on personal aides or the bureaucracy to get information from the field as they can directly engage citizens if they so wish. However, the larger implication of Mohammed’ underperformance is the fault of Mr. President as he appears to either lack the capacity to assess the competence of his cabinet ministers or willingly ignored their deficiencies.
When Alhaji Adamu Aliero was removed as FCT Minister about two years ago, it was widely celebrated because of the broad perception by Abuja residents that he was not living up to the expectations of the office. But Mohammed, who succeeded Alhaji Aliero, has been a failure. In all this, the buck stops with Mr. President.
Given that a capital city remains the most definitive point through which the outside takes a peep into the character a nation and its people, there is no doubt that the starting point for a thorough cleansing of the FCT must be the immediate reorganisation of the FCTA.
