FCT Minister dissatisfied with GEJ district

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU & LAIDE AKIBOADE
Apparently disappointed by the level of work at Goodluck Jonathan District, in Maitama extension, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed did not hide his displeasure on the slow pace of construction work going on at that district.

Bala Mohammed expressed his  dissatisfaction during the 2nd-day National Good Governance Tour of FCT. The tour which was part of the ongoing inspection of government projects across the country was led by Minister of Information, Labaran Maku.

The Minister said that the project work has not increased meaningful since the last time he visited the site.

According to him, “we engage indigenous engineers for the construction of the district and they are using our local materials.

He said that the project was estimated at N23 billion had only recorded 20 per cent completion, stating that the project was awarded in 2011.

The minister said that the district had been allocated before his administration came on board, adding that the ongoing construction was to put infrastructure in place and make it accessible for allottees.
He said, “We don’t want this  place to be like Mabuchi and Kado that do not have infrastructure.”

He said that there were over one million applications filed for lands which his administration has no offer for.
Also speaking, Labara Maku, Minister of Information commended FCT minister for awarding the project to indigenous engineers.

“We have good and intelligent engineers in Nigeria, it is important to use them, we can’t continuing using foreign engineers always,” he said.

Maku said that President Jonathan made it clear to Ministers at the federal executive meeting on the need for them to exhaust local capacity by using indigenous contractors for their projects.

He said no country would be developed by using foreigners to do its developmental projects. He therefore tasked the engineer to ensure that they don’t fail in  executing the project or it would be a minus for them.