The subject of safety and security embodies a plethora of concerns and issues. In recent times, Abuja has been in the news due to the increasing numbers of abductions that has taken place within the city centre, satellite towns and villages. While these abductions are not entirely new to some original inhabitants who live in villages in Abuja, residents in the satellite towns and Abuja city centre have for a long-time lived-in denial or oblivious of the abductions. The insecurity has reached heightened stage and is fast assuming a cancerous form that requires urgent chemotherapy for it to be flushed out…
Author: Bassey Bassey
A research, advocacy and development organization, HipCity Innovation Centre, has expressed deep concern about the ongoing strike affecting the public primary schools in the FCT. In the last 2 years, the Nigerian Union of Teachers have declared strike actions at least 3 times. First in December 2021, second strike was in January 2022 and now September 11 2023 the third strike with a strong warning to the government that the strike will not be called off if their demands are not met. According to media reports released in the early hours of September 11 2023, by the FCT wing of…
Making a city better for everyone is the clear goal of urban government and it is why cities elect Mayors to pilot the city governance. Abuja; Nigeria’s federal capital constitutionally cannot have a mayor but an appointed Minister with delegated powers of the President. The recent nomination and swearing-in of the new Minister of FCT has been greeted with mixed feeling; on the positive side; HE Barr. Nyesom Wike nicknamed Mr. Projects has an antecedent of delivering on his promises to deliver infrastructural development and it didn’t come as a surprise that the Minister’s first press briefing came with a…
Traffic Congestion In Abuja The Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Abuja is one of the leading states in Nigeria with the best road network. The roads are not just parlous but well lit with street lights, greenery with a beautiful range of mountain landscape that allures visitors and residents as they commute daily. Abuja being first, the administrative epicentre of Nigeria’s government has mostly civil servants who cannot afford the high cost of rentage in the city living in the satellite towns and suburbs and making daily commute into the city, as well as businessmen and women whose businesses are clustered…
It is no longer news that the world is converging in Sharm El Sheik Egypt to discuss countries commitments towards the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accelerated actions to phase out dependence on fossil fuel to maintain the 1.5 degree Paris agreement to keep the planet safe for all. Scientists and experts continue to warn that unless drastic steps are taken to curtail human activities contributing to global warming many countries will be lost, ecosystems destroyed, biodiversity lost etc. Already impacts of climate change are being felt across the world with increasing global temperature, sea level rise etc. In…
The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, like many other parts of Nigeria, is rich in mineral resources. Geological materials such as Cassiterite, Clay, Dolomite, Gold, Lead/Zinc, Marble and Tantalite are some of the natural resources that can be found within the area; and presently, there are mining activities going on in 5 of its 6 Area Councils. National Geographic defines mining as “the process of extracting useful materials from the earth.”1 Typically, materials that are not produced through agricultural or other artificial manufacturing processes, are obtained from mining; and historically, mining is as old as mankind. Mining is a major source…
A Pathway To Improving Rural Healthcare Service Delivery In The Fct The health sector in Nigeria is one riddled with a myriad of problems, ranging from poor infrastructure, to inadequate funding, corruption in hospital administration, lack of power supply, insufficient number of qualified personnel, as well as, poor remuneration and working conditions for these personnel which in recent times, has led to mass migration of doctors and nurses to Europe, America and other parts of the world in search of greener pastures. As of 2020, the doctor to patient ratio in Nigeria stood at 1 doctor to as much as…
The National Population commission estimates that there are 19 million persons with special needs in Nigeria1. The term “special needs” is a general term that is used to describe conditions that may range from developmental issues, to behavioural, mental, medical and learning impediments or challenges. These conditions may be acute or benign, short-termed or lifelong. Children with special needs can be described as those who have one or more disabilities that impair their ability to learn and perform ordinary, everyday activities. They may have mental retardation which can cause them to develop slower than other children; speech and language Impairment…
World Water Day 2022 Without sounding so technical, groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers1. These aquifers hold water underground and provide water when dug into. Groundwater are essential sources of freshwater that most households rely on for their daily survival and irrigation. In Nigeria, over 60 million Nigerians are without access to clean portable water.2 According to a World Bank report, it is safe to infer that these numbers are largely rural…
When Abuja was selected out of a long list of other local cities to be Nigeria’s new capital territory, it was a selection based on numerous merits such as its prime and central location, extensive land mass, favourable climate and the fact that a good portion of it was uninhabited and unspoken for. The Murtala Mohammed led military government which did this selection, and subsequent governments after his, took upon them the task of ensuring that the new capital city which critics called a utopian dream, became tangible, so that the relocation of the country’s government seat from a congested…
