Wike To Build 10,000 Renewed Hope Housing Units In FCT

Ten thousand Renewed Hope Affordable Housing units are to be constructed in the Federal Capital Territory for the masses.

Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike who stated this during a National Ministerial update to Mark Mr President’s one year in office, assured that his Administration has the “political will” to initiate people oriented projects that will improve living standard of residents.

The Ministerial briefing is organised for Ministers under President Tinubu’s administration to give their score cards on their activities and achievements.

Rolling out his achievements, Wike said he has been able to rehabilitate roads across the city , and currently constructing priority roads in the six area councils.

While he identified indiscriminate sales of land and double allocation as a challenge his administration was tackling head on, he said plans are ongoing by the FCTA to provide land, infrastructure and construct 10,000 housing units for the masses in the 2025 budget.

“For Mr President, in our next budget we want to build a ‘Renewed Hope City’ and this is for affordable houses to the tune of 10,000 units, not for the big men now.We are going to provide infrastructure, build and allocate the houses to the poor”, Wike said.

Wike who expressed delight that commercial operations of the abandoned Abuja light rail has come alive under President Tinubu, urged residents of the FCT to explore the train ride option for free for the next two months, beginning from Tuesday next week.

On Security, Wike said the FCT had successfully provided necessary security gadgets, vehicles, specialized motorcycles and Hi- tech security communication gadgets to all security agencies to enable them have what it takes, to stem the tide of “One Chance” and kidnappings.

On administrative reforms that had made positive impact, Wike revealed that under President Tinubu’s 1 year in office, hope of FCTA staff had been renewed in the area of career progression, as he pulled FCTA out of TSA bottlenecks, instituted the FCTA Head of Service and created the Women Affairs Secretariat to cater for women and promote inclusivity for all.

On curbing excessive spending, wike said he re-negotiated the amount earned and marked for Rail staff training, from 128 million dollars to 75m dollars, saving FCT, a whooping sum of over 53m dollars.

Wike who proudly announced that Abuja will be commissioning completed projects for a week from next week, said renovation of 19 schools, completion of Official residence of the Vice President, and resurfacing of roads have all been achieved among several other projects.

Wike, in addition to all these achievements, promised to construct three bus terminals across the territory within the next 8 months to check indiscriminate parking, and promote orderlineness in the sector.

Wike further promised to put an end to the activities of touts in the guise of revenue agents in the territory through the instrumentality of revenue generation harmonization drive of the FCTA.

Wike also called on the National Assembly to review the law against vandalism, pointing out that the current law against vandalism in the FCT, that prescribed N10, 000 fine for defaulters was too meager for the gravity of the offence.

“You arrest them for prosecution, and what does the law say on conviction, N10,000. So, they continue with the act.
We have told the National Assembly that they must come to our aide by amending and reviewing the law to make it very tough as to discourage vandals from vandalizing our infrastructures.”

Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Dr Mohammed Idris who said his administration will not relent until the Renewed Hope Agenda is effectively delivered to Nigerians, expressed determination to restore trust, re- orient attitudes and amplify policies and programs of Government.

“We are determined to restore trust, confidence and credibility to public communication. The Ministry of Information and National Orientation has the mandate to manage and enhance the image and reputation of the people of Nigeria through dynamic public information system that facilitates access by citizens and the global community to credible and timely information. ”

Highpoint of the event was the re- launch of the “Nigeria National Information Communication Portal” that will appropriately convey the story of Nigeria to the world.

Remi Johnson, Edited By Grace Namiji