The Executive Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba, in an interview with a team of journalists at the weekend, revealed how the council works with traditional rulers in tackling insecurity in the area. He also delved into a number of other issues. AWAAL GATA was there. Excerpts:
What is your take on the country’s 15th anniversary of uninterrupted democracy?
Despite the current security challenges facing us as a people, we should still thank God for everything. I told people that we should celebrate this year’s Democracy Day very well just as we did in the past. Like we have asked in the past years, what we are asking now is for God to give us more wisdom and understanding to entrench peace and unity in the country, so as to make progress as a people.
Considering the prevailing security challenges in the FCT, how are you working with traditional rulers in AMAC to effectively tackle the situation?
There is no doubt that the issue of security is one of the fundamental challenges that we are facing as a people, not only in the FCT but the country at large. It is unfortunate that a lot of these issues have happened within AMAC, but I have that belief that God will intervene and arrest the insecurity in the land. But, we have been meeting with traditional rulers in the council to address the situation. We meet on monthly basis. We call it Peace and Security meeting, in which the four graded chiefs in AMAC are automatic members. Also, all the 24 DPOs in AMAC are equally automatic members. We meet at every end of the month to deliberate on how to tackle the issue of insecurity in the council. And we are not only limiting the process of finding solution to the problem there. We ensure that we go down to the street, meeting our village heads, district heads and other stakeholders, to make sure that we involved them in the process. We tell them that if they happen to discover any negative thing at their respective domains, they should quickly report to the nearest police station. They should ensure they report to the appropriate officers, as security should be everyone’s business. We used to be in the number one position in terms of security, but with the way insecurity threat is coming closer, we are now in 3rd position. So it (the meeting) is no longer going to be a monthly affair, but weekly.
Is there any specific effort by your administration for addressing the problem of sanitation in the council?
Coming on board in 2010, the first priority in terms of executing developmental projects in the council was the issue of sanitation, because it deals directly with the wellbeing of humans. As far back as 2008 and 2009, if you go to areas like Karu, Jikowyi and Nyanya, you would discover heaps of refuse on the roads. Immediately I came in, I said there should be an end to that. We made compactor machines available to ease waste evacuation system in the council. So I made sure that we procured and put these machines in order, for sustainable improved sanitation. I’m proud to say that my administration is doing very well on the issue of sanitation. Even the agency in charge of sanitation in the FCT, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), will bear witness that AMAC is doing very well in this area. But the problem with sanitation is that it is a routine project. For instance, it is like when you provide a borehole in Damagaza, to solve the problem of water in the area, and you beat your chest and say that you have completed the solution to the problem there. Or is it like when you provide electrification in Damagaza, and say you have completed tackling darkness in the area; no. Because, when it comes to issue of sanitation, it is a case of you evacuating a refuse from a place today, and tomorrow you return and see it again.
I was opportune to be in Kenya and South Africa on official visit, and by the special grace of God, we are no longer going to waste any waste we generate in the council. We are going to turn them to wealth by making it useful for our farmers, not only in AMAC but FCT as a whole. To this end, we are coming up with a system whereby refuse will become useful to the people of the council and the entire FCT.
What role does the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) play in tackling sanitation in the satellite towns?
Interestingly, the STDA and the authorities of the area councils in the FCT work together in order to tackle issues affecting the wellbeing of people in the satellite towns. In fact, STDA is like our supervising officers. Where the STDA discovers that we (council authorities) could not handle challenges, the Agency quickly comes up, to see how they would assist us to achieve our aim.
In your capacity as the chairman of FCT chapter of Association of Local Governments in Nigeria (ALGON), what would be your advice to your colleagues on delivering dividends of democracy to the people?
My colleagues should know that what is expected of them is to give qualitative and responsive leadership to the people that have given them their mandate Being entrusted with the people’s mandate is not by mistake; they have agreed and placed their trust on you, as they have seen you as somebody (a leader), who can represent them. That is why they have given you their mandate. So it is now the responsibility of people like us (politicians) to provide qualitative leadership to our people. Forget about executing projects or assisting people (financially or otherwise), but what kind of behaviour are you exhibiting towards your people for them to be able to say yes, the person that they have given their mandate have not disappointed them.
I am encouraging and charging us (Council Chairmen) to keep on doing good things for the entire people of the FCT, as our people have given us the mandate because they believe that we are their leaders who would represent them very well. We should not shy away from our responsibilities.
And for residents of AMAC and the FCT in general, they should not deviate from the cooperation and support that they have been giving to both this FCT administration and its six Area Councils. They should not give gap in giving us their usual support, and I want to assure the residents of FCT that we would never disappoint them.