- FCT Minister Nyesom Wike vows to reactivate stalled projects, including metro light train, road networks, and critical infrastructure
- Contractors warned to uphold standards; Wike promises funding and strict timelines for completion of projects across the FCT
Mr Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has stated that he will return all contractors to the site under his direct supervision and the office of the Minister of State.
Wike said this at the start of a meeting with contractors in charge of various projects in the FCT, adding that Abuja would soon become a construction site, as promised.
After our inauguration, we outlined our short, medium, and long-term plans to reposition the capital city, after which we went out to inspect projects that were awarded before us but abandoned for one reason or the other. Now time has come for action.
First of all, on the metro light train, President Bola Tinubu has given us a matching order that he wants to ride on the metro light train. So, it is a key project that we must achieve, he said.
Wike went on to say that Tinubu had also complained about abandoned projects, particularly roads that were critical infrastructure.
The minister described road networks as “key infrastructure” that makes a city and stated that sanitation, streetlights, and shanties were being addressed.
But the roads are very key and so, we are trying to see how we can map out strategies and structure funding so that we do not have problems with completion.
I am determined to get every contractor back to site with direct supervision from my office and the office of the Minister of State.
The major problem we are having in this country is the problem of supervision and so we are not going to tolerate anything below standard.
If there are people you have been working with that have compromised standards, too bad, too bad; not with me. I am not going to accept anything that is below standard.
I want to achieve results so I will not award a contract when I do not have money to fund it.
We are going to fund you and you will tell us the time within which the project will be completed. If we agreed three months, it is three months; If I give six months, it is six months, Wike told the contractors.
He assured the commencement of all abandoned projects in all sections of the FCT, stressing that the measure would create employment.