By Philip Yatai

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike says President Bola Tinubu’s administration is transforming FCT to a befitting nation’s capital.

Wike stated this on Sunday,  during a Thanksgiving Service at St. James’ Anglican Church, Asokoro, Abuja, for the successful completion of project inaugurations by Tinubu to celebrate his second year in office.

The minister said nothing was moving in the nation’s capital until the coming of Tinubu’s administration, pointing out that residents were already confessing the changes.

“This is because you have a government that is determined to make the needed changes.

“If the Tinubu government is not interested, it will be the same thing but because he is interested, he said this is not the kind of capital we should have; this is not the kind of city Nigeria should be boasting of.

“We need to transform Abuja to be like other cities in the world and he gave me a matching order to see that things are working.

“Yes, we cannot say we have completely changed Abuja but you can see the processes and the steps being taken to put Abuja where it is supposed to be,” he said.

He pointed out that most of the infrastructure, particularly roads were in a bad shape, adding that currently things were different.

The FCT minister appealed to residents and Nigerians to be patient and see what Abuja would become in the next one year.

He pointed out that some people resisted his appointment as the FCT minister because he didn’t come from a particular area in the country, which he described as “unfortunate”.

Wike lauded Tinubu for standing firm on his decision to work only with people that would support him and work with him to develop FCT.

“We are contributing our own quota and it is left for the people to judge our performance. We will continue to work hard to improve on what Mr President has promised FCT residents and NIgerians in general.

“Like the Vicar of the Church Ben Idume has said, everybody can attest to the changes Mr President has introduced in the FCT.”

Wike pointed out that for the first time under Tinubu’s administration, the FCT now appoints its Permanent Secretaries (PS) as against posting them from the Federal Civil Service.

He explained that Tinubu’s decision was to ensure that FCT workers’ growth was not retarded as they retired at the rank of directors.

“People who get to the director level retire and do not get to the permanent secretary level, but today, by the grace of God, all the civil servants in the FCT are likely to grow to the level of permanent Secretary.

“Secondly, today, FCT had its own Head of Service, who of course, is a woman and from FCT. All these are things that people should thank Mr President for.

“Also, before now, it will be difficult for FCT to access funds, but Mr President in his wisdom decided that FCT Administration should be pulled out from the Treasury Single Account.

“This has significantly helped us to access funding and execute development and infrastructural projects across the FCT,” he said.

He explained that the thanksgiving service became necessary to thank God for the successful inauguration of 17 projects in 16 days by Tinubu to celebrate his second year in office.

“It was not easy. Nobody lost his life, no accident going from here to outside the city – Kwali, Gwagwalada and Bwari. It has not been easy.

“We thank God for the grace; we thank God for the strength given to all of us. It’s teamwork and we did it successfully,” he said.

Earlier, Idume presented an Award of Excellence to the minister for the exceptional performance in infrastructural development in the FCT.

Idume observed that contrary to the opposition Wike faced, he had proven his detractors wrong as FCT minister from the southern part of Nigeria.

He described Tinubu as a “visionary leader” saying, “he appointed Wike FCTA Minister because he knew he would perform against all odds”. (NAN)

Edited by Yakubu Uba