FCT suffering from gross infrastructure deficit, imbalance, Kingibe’s wife alleges

The Labour Party (LP) Senatorial candidate for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the 2023 election, Ireti Kingibe, has said that the nation’s capital was suffering from gross infrastructural deficit and imbalance

Kingibe, who is the wife of one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe, also gave insight into the reasons the bill seeking Mayoral Status in FCT was rejected by the National Assembly.

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, Kingibe blamed the lawmaker representing FCT in the Senate, Philip Aduda, for causing a setback to the bill in the National Assembly.

Recall that in 2022, the National Assembly rejected Mayoral Status and Ministerial Bills. The bill sought to confer a Mayoral status on FCT while the ministerial bill sought to empower FCT indigenes to become FCT ministers.

Kingibe however pointed accusing fingers on Aduda for the rejected bills.

She said: “That Mayor Bill was first written by the Senator that was Senator from 1999 to 2003. I think it hasn’t been passed yet because we haven’t gone about it properly. You also have to remember that from 1999 till now, a huge chunk of that time, that is 12 years, has been occupied by one senator.

“Now, the last time that the bill was not passed, I went around and asked some of the senators, why did you reject it as it doesn’t have anything to do with you. They said, ‘Well, madam, we didn’t like how the bill was presented. It was presented to us that we should pass it so that he (Aduda) when he finishes as Senator, will go and become Mayor.

She added that she had told him that part of the reason they were not getting the Mayoral seat was that he personalized it.

“I told him that if he throws it to the people of the FCT and makes them understand that they all will fare better under an elected Mayor; they alone are enough to put the necessary pressure to get it.”

She noted that most of the roads, schools and other basic infrastructures in the nation’s capital had been in a deplorable state, with little or no effort by the government to fix them.

She added that insecurity has become more prevalent in the FCT which has led to farmers abandoning their farms over the fear of being killed.

According to her, highbrow areas in the FCT are getting undue attention in terms of infrastructure to the detriment of the suburbs which have little or no government presence.

Kingibe said her major focus when elected as Senator representing FCT at the Red Chamber will be to tackle the infrastructural imbalance in the FCT and ensure the issue of insecurity is addressed.

“FCT, except for Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) is primarily agrarian, but because of insecurity, nobody can go to the farm. Even if there is insecurity in the land, FCT is the capital, with a little bit of effort, we should be secured in the FCT, but we are at the point where nobody can go to the farm.

“I feel that there is a lack of will to fix insecurity, and what I am bringing to the FCT is goodwill, determination to work, sincerity, integrity and honesty, the things I cannot do, I will tell FCT residents that I cannot do it”, she noted.

She said the residents of the FCT do not feel the presence of the government due to poor representation at the National Assembly.

“I am running because I can see a great lapse and lacuna in the representation of the FCT. I have lived in the FCT since 1988.

“Senatorial seat is the highest elective office in FCT and the Senator works closely with the Minister of FCT to represent the people and also take care of the FCT infrastructure.

“The Senator is also there to keep an eye on the needs of the people because he is representing them.

“If you remove Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse, Wuse 2, Central Business District and Airport road from FCT, there is nothing left; development is zero. You cannot go to Nyanya and see any decent road, nowhere has water, and nowhere has light.

“In FCT, we don’t have water, but Usuma Dam and Jabi Lake were created just to provide FCT with water but infrastructure has to be put in place for water to go to the communities.

“Sometimes I observe that we take water from Usuma Dam leave all of Bwari and bring it straight to Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse 2, things cannot continue like that.

“There is no reason why we cannot have solar light all over until the power generation and transmission companies can pick up, there should be solar power in place.

“So many contracts have been awarded for road, there are still a lot of bad roads in the FCT, especially in the suburbs”, she said.

Kingibe said her reasons for Joining the senatorial race are not to make money but to bring credible and quality representation to the residents of the FCT.

“I am bringing a credible representation, I am not going there to put anything in my pocket, at my age I have everything that I want, I am not trying to move to a better house, but I want to give back to the society that has been good to me.

“I didn’t join politics for anything other than improving the country and the people. A nation and a government are judged by the well-being of the people, that is what determines success,” Kingibe stated.

“When people ask me if I can reduce the salaries of Senators, I tell them that I don’t think that can happen with me alone, I think that the National Assembly is overpaid but it is not within my scope of duties to be able to do something about it.

“I should be able to pass laws with other Senators if when I get there, we are able to do so together, but notwithstanding that, I can make a difference to the lives of the residents of the FCT and that is basically what I am bringing to the table.

“I have a programme titled ‘I go chop with Ireti’ where I am trying to feed 1000 FCT residents every Friday for free. I want to put it in a manner that in every ward and Area Council with a logo that shows that residents can eat at a designated place,” she added.

“We can’t change it. But if we give concessions, like maybe an Educational Trust Fund for original habitants because I see that that is a problem in their inability to compete when everybody’s competing is lack of education.”