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| Traffic lights on Abuja Roads (credits: Olatunji Obasa) |
Residents of Nigeria’s capital have
suddenly discovered that major junctions of the city are sparkling with
lights shortly after the declaration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the
president-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Our correspondent observed the
rehabilitation of old traffic lights, which had stopped functioning for
years, and the installation of new ones at road junctions that
previously had no light.
Some of the new traffic lights are at
Jabi, Utako, Kado, Gwarimpa, Garki, Maitama, Asokoro, Kubwa as well as
in the satellite towns.
But many residents are quick to attribute
the action of the Federal Capital Territory Administration to the
impending change in government because the contract had been awarded a
long time ago with the contractors fully mobilised.
Some of the residents, who spoke with our
correspondent, said that the installation of the traffic lights was
belated, arguing that the project would have taken another two to three
years to actualise if the Peoples Democratic Party had won the election.
For instance, Mallam Kabiru Sani, a taxi
driver, alleged that the FCTA was rushing the project so that it would
be able to retire the money already voted in its 2014 budget.
He said, “The FCTA claimed that it had
installed Closed Circuit Television in every nook and cranny of Abuja,
yet there were bomb blasts all over the place without the police being
able to arrest the perpetrators.
“The
management of FCTA knows that the incoming administration will probe
its extravagant spending. I am sure this explains why the contractors
are rushing the projects.”
According to a journalist, Mr. Taiye
Odewale, the project is a welcome development because it will bring
about orderliness and sanity in vehicular traffic in the city.
He said, “Most times, the traffic wardens
are not always at their duty posts, especially in the afternoon and
during downpours, thereby causing commotion”
Also, Mr. John Okafor, a businessman,
urged the FCTA to extend the facility to the Arab Road area of Kubwa,
one of the new satellite areas where the Federal Government is currently
constructing rail lines.
He said, “The extension of the traffic light to the area would help to prevent accidents whenever the trains begin operation.”
But Amina Mohammed, who lives in Kubwa,
reasoned differently. She told our correspondent that the government
decided to execute the project in order to leave a lasting legacy after
May 29.
She cautioned Nigerians against
condemning the project because it was possibly awarded a long time ago
while the contractors decided to execute it when the items they needed
arrived in the country.
In his reaction, the Acting Director,
Public Transportation in the FCTA, Mr. Vincent Igberaese, attributed the
delay in the execution of the project to budgetary constraints.
He said that 74 new traffic lights were
installed in addition to already existing 88. According to him, Abuja
now has 162 traffic lights in the various major junctions across the
FCT.
But the leadership of the All
Progressives Congress accused the Jonathan administration of engaging in
a last-minute project execution ahead of the May 29 handover date.
The party’s Publicity Secretary, Lai
Mohammed, in a statement, alleged that reports from the media as well as
information gathered from reliable sources suggested that the outgoing
administration was engaged in rushing award of contracts.
The party also alleged that the FCT
Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, had embarked on secret recruitment of
about 500 fresh members of staff into the Federal Capital Development
Authority.
The APC therefore asked Jonathan to
caution his officials, lest they engage in actions that could later
embarrass his administration.
Meanwhile, the minister has denied the APC allegation.
He said the installation of the lights
was to drastically reduce traffic problems associated with those powered
by conventional electricity supply.
Mohammed said the development would enhance traffic management and security of commuters within the FCT.
The minister said the Jonathan
administration was doing everything possible to tackle all traffic
problems in Abuja, noting that 20 additional new intersections had been
earmarked for traffic light installation before the end of the year.
He also said that additional 1, 200 road traffic lights had been installed and were of various types and sizes.
He listed the new set of roads marked in
the city to include the Tafawa Balewa Way; Lome Crescent Street;
F.O.Williams Street; Babangida Aliyu Street; Nouchott Street; Kashim
Ibrahim Way; Sabo Ago Way; Deji Omotade Street; Wada Aliyu Street and
the Ahmadu Bello Way.
Muhammed described the reports that he
was rushing the project as a campaign of calumny and mischief against
the outgoing administration.
He said the project packaged by the
National Planning Commission was conceptualised in 2012 between Nigeria
and the government of China.
He added, “China is bearing the whole
cost of the project – N780m – and as usual with such a partnership, it
nominated the contractor, which is doing the work from China.
“The only thing we have done is to make
sure that we provide the counterpart funding totalling about N81m as
well as to supervise its execution.
“So, this is the project that we started a
long time ago and we have reached a level where we start the
implementation because we have had to get some waiver from Mr. President
and the company. Poly Solar Technologies has started the
implementation.
“The waiver was approved in January this
year and we believe as a government we should continue to take projects
and programmes to their logical conclusion.
“So it is deceptive and misleading for
anybody to think that something that we are getting as a collaborative
and multilateral assistance is something that we have conceptualised as a
last-minute bid. It is a project the incoming administration, I
believe, should cherish. The incoming administration will come and
inherit a city that is witnessing transformation in all its
ramifications.”
The minister added that the pedestrian
bridges scattered across the city too were a multilateral assistance
given to the country by the World Bank. He noted that their
implementation was through the road sector-implementing agency
recognised by the United Nations.
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