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General news

FCT minister commissions 5 solar boreholes in Kwali

NAN-H-51
Boreholes
By Bukola Adewumi
Abuja, Dec. 18, 2017 (NAN) The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammed Bello, on Monday commissioned the five solar-powered boreholes recently rehabilitated and upgraded at the Kwali Waterworks.

Bello, in his address of welcome at the commissioning of the Kwali Water Supply Scheme, said the project was constructed many years ago but was abandoned due to lack of maintenance.

“We are grateful to the CGC Nigeria Ltd. for this laudable project. But I am not surprised that the company is doing this after 30 years of solid relationship with Nigeria,” he said.

The minister said the FCT Administration had done its part by providing the facility and the machine it would use to power it.

He then called on the residents to protect and maintain it.

Bello said this would be to their advantage and benefit, saying the project was achievable sequel to the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari who provided the needed support.

Mr Ishaku Yamawo, Coordinator, Satellite Town Development Department (STDD) in the FCT, said the Kwali Water Supply Scheme was constructed in the 1980s.

He said the waterworks stopped functioning due to lack of maintenance by past FCT administrations.

“In the Abuja Masterplan, there is no provision for the extension of water supply from the Lower Usman Dam treatment plant which supplies water to FCT satellite towns in the Area Council.

“But there is an urgent need to rehabilitate the existing water supply network in Kwali town to alleviate the challenge of water supply in the community,’’ Yamawo said.

Mr Ye Shuijin, the Managing Director of CGC, a Chinese construction company, said the rehabilitation of the solar boreholes was aimed at improving access to potable water supply in the community.

“After rehabilitation, the scheme has been developed to comprise about 4,400 metres length of new pipeline, five boreholes, five solar energy system and five water tanks.

“With a design capacity of 160m3 per day, it can supply potable water to 3,000 residents,” he added.

Mr Joseph Shazin, the Chairman of Kwali Area Council, said the cost of the project in 2013 was estimated at N27 million, and it was abandoned then.

He said the council would ensure its adequate protection by providing the necessary security for all the equipment.

“We promise to work to make the project sustainable, because it will go a long way to relief the people of Kwali,’’ Shazin said.(NAN)
BOL/ESAN/OLAL
==============

(Edited by Abiodun Esan and Olawale Alabi)

 

General news

FCTA will not tolerate open defecation in Jabi Motor park

NAN-H-11
Toilets
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, Nov. 19, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Sunday said it would no longer tolerate the practice of open defecation in Jabi Motor park, as measures were on to construct more toilets.

Mr Jibrin Shaba, Director, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, FCTA, said this at an event to commemorate the 2017 World Toilet Day organised by the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS) in Abuja.

He said that the hygiene situation of the park was worrisome as it was also a cause of concern to the administration.

“Open defecation is so rampant here, it’s so bad, when we complete the toilets, enforcement will begin, the practice of open defecation here is an eye sore, FCTA will not tolerate this practice anymore.

“We are also calling on the transport operators to use the available toilets, why would people resort to defecating in the open, when we came in here today, the smell is unbearable. ”

Shaba said access to public toilets is key to ending open defecation, adding that there was the need for citizens to take ownership of their hygiene to prevent diseases and illnesses.

Mrs Elizabeth Ugoh, NTGA Representative, said the World Toilet Day is an avenue to create awareness on importance of access to sanitation and toilets.

Ugoh said Hand washing is key to breaking the cycle of illnesses and disease transmission, adding that the negative impact of faecal-oral transmission of diseases on food and water can be reduced.

She said building and using toilets at all times had a greater value and advantage to manpower development and overall hygiene promotion.

The representative added that the federal ministry of water resources has committed to ending open defecation practices with the implementation of the National Roadmap on Ending Open defecation by 2025 and hygiene promotion campaigns.

Mr Nature Obiakor, Coordinator, Youth Water Sanitation and Hygiene , an NGO, said the group was working to raise the profile of sanitation and in the FCT through continuous advocacy.

He said the Toilet for All Campaign was focused on encouraging citizens to take ownership of scaling up hygiene and sanitation by ensuring that they build and use their toilets.

“We are carrying out advocacy to ensure government at all levels to invest more in building toilets in public places such as schools, markets, churches, mosques and parks.”

Obiakor added that there was the need for promotion of Hand washing at critical times to prevent diseases and illnesses especially in under-five children.

Also speaking, Mr Benson Attah, National Coordinator, Society for Water and Sanitatio, said millions of citizens were without access to toilet facilities which belong to the first stage of the sanitation systems.

He said access to water, sanitation and hygiene was no doubt the “gate-way” to both development and under-development, hereby imploring all levels of government in Nigeria to embrace it.

According to the UN, 4.5 billion people globally live without a household toilet that safely disposes of their waste.

The World Toilet Day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis, the theme focuses on Wastewater as it shows how human waste spreads killer diseases. (NAN)
TAK/FAT/SH
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Sadiya Hamza

Health

Agency refutes speculation of polio outbreak in Abuja

Agency refutes speculation of polio outbreak in Abuja
NAN-HG-2
Polio
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Oct. 13, 2017 (NAN) Dr Mathew Ashikeni, the Acting Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, on Friday refuted speculation of polio outbreak in the territory.
Ashikeni told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that there was a reported case of polio compatible in Abuja not polio virus.
He explained that the reported case was recorded at Rugan Baraje village in Kwali Area Council of the FCT.
According to him, the polio compatible has same symptoms of polio virus but the one reported was not.
He disclosed that a team of experts were deployed to the area and there were series of tests that confirmed no result indicated polio virus.
The acting scribe said that in spite that his board had carried out a mop up immunisation to vaccinate all the children in the area.
The Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Ms Amanda Bam, had earlier told NAN that the polio compatible affected a 10-year-old girl in Kwali.
Bam explained that the record showed that the girl had received immunisation in the past in the area.
She said that the incident occurred in the last two weeks and the department of public health had taken the affected child to Gwagwalada teaching hospital to undergo physiotherapy.
According to her, what seems like polio affected only one leg of the victim.
The scribe therefore advised parents to ensure routine immunisation of their children or wards to prevent polio virus and other infectious diseases. (NAN)
MS/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

FCTA to engage 203 midwives to tackle maternal, infant mortality

FCTA to engage 203 midwives to tackle maternal, infant mortality

NAN-HG-7

Midwives

By Mustapha Sumaila

Abuja, June 28, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board says it will soon engage 203 midwives to address challenges of maternal and infant mortality in the territory.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr Matthew Ashikeni, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

Ashikeni said that the FCT administration had received 203 midwives, transferred by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, under the Federal Government’s Midwives Service Scheme and Sure-P programme.

He said that FCTA had graciously approved it, for the midwives to be engaged and the board was working out modalities on how to absorb them properly.

He added that such midwives would be posted to rural areas where their services were needed to enhance maternal and child health care.

The secretary also disclosed that the board had concluded plan to renovate 230 health facilities across the FCT, pointing out that the renovation would be done in phases.

According to him, the primary health care under his watch is committed to achieve one primary health care per a political ward to ensure that people at the grassroots get access to health facilities.

“In the next few months, we will be activating three health facilities in each of the six area councils in the territory and make them functional.

“We shall be providing basic drugs and other essential services to make primary health care facilities perform effectively and efficiently,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ashikeni told NAN that his board was working seriously with major stakeholders to reduce the number of unimmunised children in the territory.

He appealed to parents to bring out their children and wards for the forthcoming vaccination against polio, which kicks off on July 8. (NAN)
MS/TO/MST

Edited by Tola Okinbaloye/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

FCTA to immunise 860,000 children against killer diseases

FCTA to immunise 860,000 children against killer diseases

NAN-HG-2
Immunisation
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, May 15, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board on Monday said it would immunise 860,000 children against killer diseases to mark 2017 Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week.

The Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, disclosed this at the flag-off ceremony of MNCH week in Abuja.

Mohammed explained that MNCH, which would hold between May 15 and 19, would offer a lot of interventions for children below the age of five and mothers.

He said that apart from administration of vaccines against some killer diseases, children in Abuja would also receive Vitamin A and deworming tablets.

“Children in 28 Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps will also benefit from the programme.

“No fewer than 310 health centres are designated for the exercise and 992 community volunteers will participate for the special intervention programmes to mark the week,’’ he said.

The Acting Secretary of FCT Health and Human Services, Mrs Alice Odey, described the high prevalence of malnutrition in Abuja as alarming and unacceptable by the government.

Odey explained that the rate of stunting in FCT was at 20.6 per cent, underweight 12.6 per cent and wasting stood at 13.8 per cent.

“The FCT administration is working to achieve WHO’s global target on malnutrition of lower than five per cent by 2025.

This year’s package is targeting maternal, newborn and child survival interventions which had proven to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality.

“This year’s MNCH will focus on the provision of Vitamin A supplement, hand washing, deworming of children, family planning, immunisation against preventable diseases, HIV counseling and nutrition, among others,’’ she said. (NAN)
MS/OIF/MST

Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

FCTA to complete Airport road, inaugurate Bill Clinton bridge May – Minister

FCTA to complete Airport road, inaugurate Bill Clinton bridge May – Minister

NAN-H-50

Bridge

By Kabir Muhammad

Abuja, April 18, 2017 (NAN) The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, says the FCT Administration has planned to ease traffic flow by completing the Airport Road and the Bill Clinton Bridge soon.

Bello said this when he paid an unscheduled visit to the project site on Tuesday in Abuja, adding that the opening of the strategic trumpet bridge would further reduce traffic bottlenecks along that route.

The minister, who was accompanied by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr Babatope Ajakaiye, noted as Abuja Airport re-opens for business, said the opening would ease traffic flow in that axis.

The trumpet overhead bridge is linking the Bill Clinton Drive with the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway (Airport Road) and Gwagwalada-Giri axis.

He assured road users that efforts would be re-doubled to ensure that the trumpet bridge with its loops and tangents are completed in good time and opened to the motoring public within a very short time.

“We have seen the progress of work and we will continue to provide you all the needed support and funds. Of course the Airport is going to be opened very shortly.

“So, it’s very important that you work towards your timeline, particularly the mid-May timeline so that at least it can ease traffic flow.

“The Bill Clinton Bridge on the Airport expressway is a very important project of the FCT Administration. It is meant to carry traffic in and out of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,’’ he said.

According to him, with the increased flow of traffic, it’s very important for us to make sure that this very critical bridge is completed.

“But overall, we are very happy with your work and I think this goes also to show that you are very important citizens of Abuja.

“You have basically constructed a significant part of the city and we look forward to when we will all come and just cut the tape to commission this project,” he stressed.

Bello stated that when this administration came in, it was basically a hanging bridge but within the last few months, with proper funding and supervision, the contractors came back to site and they have done a very wonderful job.

“From your timeline, I understand a portion of the bridge will be operational within the next few weeks and subsequently within the next two or three months.

“The entire section will be completed including all the streetlights, road signage as well as all the drainage points and we will have a very beautiful bridge linking the city with the Airport.

“I am so pleased with this and this is what we will continue to do in many sections of the city, trying to complete on-going infrastructure,” he said.

He noted that with funding and determination the Abuja will have the benefit of being a mega city “where everybody can move around without too much hindrance”.

The Acting Director of the FCDA, Engineering Services Department, Mr Shehu Ahmad, conducted the minister and his entourage round the project site.

He revealed that the project, which was awarded on May 7, 2009, and work commenced on May 13, 2009, is 95 per cent completed.

Ahmad disclosed that the project comprised of the rehabilitation of the existing dual carriageways and its expansion to 10-lane carriageways inclusive of the service lanes on both sides. (NAN)

KM/OSA/MST

Edited by Shittu Obassa/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

FCTA urges residents to embrace Polio vaccination

FCTA urges residents to embrace Polio vaccination

NAN-HG-11

Polio

By Mustapha Sumaila

Abuja, April 6, 2017 (NAN) Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, has called on residents to embrace polio immunisation.

Mohammed made the appeal while fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the current routine vaccination on Thursday in Abuja.

He decried the rejection of vaccination against polio by some schools and worship places in the FCT.

According to him, the routine immunisation was designed to combat further spread of the disease in the territory.

The scribe regretted that the non-compliance could bring a set back to the exercise.

Mohammed noted that some conventional and Islamic schools as well as churches in FCT rejected the vaccines in the just concluded March round immunisation against polio myelitis.

According to him, those who rejected the vaccine claimed that the immunisation was becoming too frequent, saying their kids had taken enough.

The secretary therefore urged parents to cooperate with the officials and continue to accept the vaccination because there was no overdose.

Mohammed said that though there was no fresh case of polio in the FCT as of now, but the vaccination became necessary due to the outbreak recorded in Borno sometime last year.

“This routine exercise is good for our children because we still have IDPs coming from Borno state to the territory.

“The FCT Minister had been intimated about the development and he ordered that schools in the FCT should henceforth comply and accept the vaccines.

“We also met with traditional rulers and religious leaders to seek for their cooperation in addressing the problem of non-compliance,” he said.

The also said that some foreign nationals who rejected the polio vaccines claimed that their children had taken the vaccine from their countries.

Mohammed said that about 879,725 eligible children were immunised in the just concluded exercise.

He added that in spite of the rejection, his team was able to achieve 97 per cent coverage in the territory. (NAN)

MS/HS/MST

Edited by Halima Sheji/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

FCTA to partner NPHCDA to develop PHCs

FCTA to partner NPHCDA to develop PHCs

NAN-H-34

Collaboration

By Kabir Muhammad

Abuja, March 29, 2017 (NAN) The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has said that the FCT Administration would collaborate with the NPHCDA to develop the Primary Health Centres in the territory to globally acceptable level.

Bello said this when he received the management of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) led by the Executive Director, Dr Faisal Shuaib, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister also assured that the FCT administration would work very closely with the agency to ensure that all the risks associated with public health in the FCT were reduced to minimal risk level.

He promised that the administration would provide the needed support to realise that objective.

Bello asked NPHCDA to use FCT as a model to showcase the standard expected of an ideal PHC that would be replicated across the country.

The minister lauded the presentation made by World Health Organisation (WHO) on the team on the status of immunisation in the FCT.

He noted that the report has provided a lot of insight into the state of immunisation in the FCT and the gaps needed to be filled.

“This comprehensive presentation for me is an eye opener because now I know from what I have seen here that we need to work harder in order to take our primary healthcare activities in the territory to the acceptable standard,’’ he said.

Bello recalled the exemplary performance of the public health workers nationwide during the unfortunate period of Ebola disease.

He paid tribute to the health workers that paid the supreme price in their efforts in serving humanity.

The minister also lauded the efforts of the public health officials in the eradication of Poliomyelitis in the country.

Shuaib had earlier commended the minister for the giant steps taken so far, which he said have demonstrated the commitment of the FCT administration in developing the health sub-sector.

He said the approval given by the minister for dedicated budget line for the health sector and the building of 12 model PHCs in various communities in the territory were highly commendable.

He said that the re-activation of the taskforce on polio eradication and timely release of counterpart fund for immunisation have gone a long way in strengthening the efforts to eradicate polio from the FCT.

Shuaib said that the agency was working round the clock to address reports of the outbreak of meningitis in the territory. (NAN)

KM/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

General news

FCTA to eliminate multiple taxation

FCTA to eliminate multiple taxes

NAN-H-88

Taxes

By Kabir Muhammad Abuja, Feb. 15, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has said that the administration has put machinery in motion to harmonise taxes in the territory to reduce cases of multiple taxation.

Bello stated this while receiving members of the Hotel Owners Forum, FCT Chapter, who visited him on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, one of the areas that have been of great concern to the FCT Administration is multiplicity of taxes.

He said that the soon to be operational FCT Inland Revenue Services (FCT-IRS) in concert with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will work out modalities to harmonise all taxes.

“One area that has been of great challenge to us is the multiplicity of taxes that FCT residents pay.

“It is something that is of great concern and jointly with the FIRS with the FCT IRS which will soon be operational, will work on what is already being done nationally so that we can harmonise all these taxes.

“The ultimate goal is for businesses and organisations to just make one payment to a particular agency and that agency divides the payments to all the others.

“That way, you don’t have to communicate with five or six different people coming to you and you don’t know who is genuine and who is not genuine.

“I can assure you we are on the path towards being able to surmount that,” he said.

Bello noted that in no distant future, the administration would sort out all these problems of multiple taxes and give the residents a clear programme and road map as to what the collections are supposed to be.

He, however, warned that on no condition must any kind of tax be paid into private accounts because taxes are meant for the government.

“With regard to taxation, I want to clearly tell you now that any person that comes to you and says pay tax into a private account, don’t pay.

“Taxation is for government. Even if for any reason, taxes are being collected through consultants and so on, first and foremost, the taxes go to government coffers, and then government pays the consultants.

“If you have a problem, report to me directly through your association,” the minister said.

On tenement rate and area of the jurisdictions of the Area Councils, particularly Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), he said it is something that is in the court and declined further comments.

“But what we are trying to do will take care of all these and everybody will be carried along.

“It is a pity that of recent, the economic situation has affected almost every sector of the nation but that it is a reality that nations go through and I think it’s not peculiar to Nigeria,” he said.

He, however, assured that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is very conscious of the need to encourage the private sector because government alone cannot cater for the employment needs of all Nigerians.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the forum, Eze Maxwell Kanu, said that the forum has about 250 hotels in its membership.

He called on the minister to help resolve problems of multiple taxes in the FCT.

Kanu appealed for assistance in ironing out problems of Land Use Contravention where their members are usually charged very high on yearly basis.

He also called for the review of the Abuja Master Plan especially as it concerns hotels and hospitality industry to provide more plots of land for such facilities. (NAN)

KM/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Defence/Security

Audio Attached: VIO gives FCT taxi operators 24-hour ultimatum to stop illegal parking or face prosecution

NAN-DS-6

Ultimatum

By Angela Atabo

Abuja, Jan. 17, 2017 (NAN) The FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services, also known as VIO, has given commercial taxi operators in the territory a 24-hour ultimatum to stop illegal parking.

The acting Director, VIO, Mr Wadata Bodinga, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that operators, who failed to comply with the ultimatum would be made to pay N25,000 fine or face prosecution.

Cue in audio

“The FCT Administration is very serious and is determined to make sure that it safeguards the critical infrastructure in the FCT, particularly the walkways, the green barges that are dilapidated and scattered by motorists, who are using every available space in the FCT as a bus stop.

“So, aside from the security aspect of it and the dangers it can pose to other commuters, it is also affecting the beauty of the city.

“That is why the FCTA wants to have a change in that direction so as to give FCT a befitting facelift.’’

Cue out audio

Bodinga said he was carrying out the directive of the security committee headed by the Commissioner of Police FCT.

He said the committee was set up to find sustainable solutions to traffic jam in the territory and return Abuja to its original master plan.

Bodinga said that the directorate went round FCT to sensitise all categories of transport operators to the new directive before enforcing it.

The director noted that the FCT Administration has provided an alternative park for temporary use by commercial vehicle operators.

“Some of the suggested areas are the zone five park, opposite Access Bank by Wuse market.

“There is another park behind Wuse market, opposite Kitway and Development Control office; we have swung into action to clear it.

“There is another one at Berger junction behind Federal Inland Revenue Service apart from the bus stop at the main junction and it is big enough to contain all licensed commercial vehicle operators.

“There are also two garages on the Area One and Three axis; we have equally gone to Lugbe and have also identified all the alternative bus stops to be used.

“We have done the same thing at AYA. So, we have provided alternative routes in almost all the nooks and crannies of FCT,’’ he said.

Bodinga further said that five mobile courts would begin sitting simultaneously at different locations to try defaulters.

He, therefore, advised tricycle (Keke Napep) operators and commercial motorcyclists (Okada) to operate within the areas prescribed by law.

According to him, tricycle operators should operate only within estates, while commercial motorcyclists are to operate within FCT satellite towns. (NAN)

ATAB/OSA/YEE

Edited by Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim

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