ABUJA UPDATE Sunda~~ober7, 2012
Gaj~upe: A people set for aIbirthright battle' Br Or-cbi OIWH
R
b'dCIl.U
or Guupc
IIlflrla
have Ihe FCT /ldmlnutntion of rrfuslng 10 provide potable Wlltc.r, good rold IldWorlt ID(l electricity for them. Gnup;: I• • districland iI suburb O~A~uj. siWaled In the hca(t of die cily. Guupc \iU,ge is C'Iuyth;ing squalor IS the life of dIe pcQpl~ shows nOlhlng but ahjd.1 pO'fe.l1ty and total mISery. accwed
Bor M!ltl~1 Agbola. I
h.,ul;twlf4- t/ho lh'cs In I seir a,millntu DlUd apartment with her IlUsb1ncll.nd IOn. "life has been \~r1 h~d for me and mr h~h:md. ~ t pay two thousand n..ti ... :!.vcrr~n .• nthfotthillnd howe·, ntll gbl, nO '<Qlet. we
fncb lrom! e sleams. /I. n.ti"~ lofOyo SUIt, she lold our rClr,ner Lbat she hn b~c t llivin@ n that community fur Ihc rail and liCe hl..$ nol bU11 asy (,It them. "We have "'J'Olablc lva ter. no clcctrichy an Doth n ~ to live (or In this ViUtlcw. f;he cr'lIlPlalned that ·We 10 b the stlnm to felch water. My bu,ban~ lpends morc: than N2~() daily ~rom the 'mal ruwa' ou~ of the I tile wary hE set. nlO(lthly, b ~caU5e I juSl gave blrlh. I enn t be going to the stream el'e.., dily and I need to It Ie m)',f ' n, cook, drink and h wit 1 he water we buy·. \4alun Usman said, 'The We) rlsomE part is thai Gal.UpE h no dra nage system. The raillhllicalu dirt)'s, A"hallman (rom Kaduna ~~_ I' n~le mother of two. IIhl. "I ha, o! been living in Gar.upe ro lil'e run now aM I can (nly afford a room Scm"tln e'l, we struggle to pay the rent .J ( tJuo single room which WI: I.re managing_ We usc publIC t"ill! but sometimes we uu the t u Ih. We aJso use I Pa.u lOt neighbour generator but we doh't u~ I again because fut:! is 'err o)ltly. I pray for the day my childn n will 1ft the Ilght of e.Ie:tridty' She II. )Said the environ· mfnt l.ill'IY, bUllbe hu no other pbe! 10 live. CraC<! toelegu from Abia State lam,nt.ed that 'hey want to~mollf h other people's hO.1Sellili leave the G ....'rl poJple, -wllere can we go (rom bqrd. G~:crnment should cWnt: to Q 11" aicr
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• . Resldents orGarupa in petty trading
_ An unhygenlc water source in Gazupe Ibrahim Sanla trader said, "-ask rorce aJway. dlsltlrbs our peace. Nigerian governmenlis always wicked to the poor, II is not doing for us what we LIked It to do for us. so why Slirt 10
diJturb U5 when we $lfuggle 10 survive?· He asked. Our reporter saw some ladles who hang around drinkingjotnU in skimpy dothe5. When one o(them WIJ
approached. she said, "Since the government hIS neglected us. we have to fend (or our survival by waltlnR for men to come and patronite UI, The nat visit was at the Chid Palace. Shekwomwasa village Head fCT Abujl; Chief Bitrus T, Yakubu, Gazupt: Dlnrict Head. who paulonatcly spoke ·They reared our old father in th is Guu~ It 15 I smali village that our fo re fathers lave us. We arc not from Nasarawa, Niger. P!ateau Siale. Kogi or Kaduna State., We aff! from FCT AbuJa. The problem ohhis community is the FCT minister who sold allocalion ohhls vlllige 10 strangeB. while we arc still Iivinl here. The FCDA did not mtegrate us In any form. It did not make any alternative provisions for us. We are r!!:ady to die for the land lhat belongs to our forerathers.. Unlc-ss they rC$f!lIle Ind Integrate us.. we In: not moving an inch from our
hOUKS, We must right fur our birthrighL They should develop our pllce IS they developed uther places in FCT. The FCDA usurped our birthright and sold it to others. We are tetllng the Rovemment to resellie us.. provide us good life. The} have lisa marked OUf houses. We have said it cannot happen. We lTe waiting for the government to come and bulldoze this pllce. They cannot mark the Indigenes houses Counsellor reprcscntlnR Gazupt: district, Han. BaJa lyah. liso said, "This 's my community and we don't have allocations. The chairman receives the allocations. What we rccein is Just Alary. J cannot U$4: my '1laryto develop my community. I hlv!!: consistently made complainLllo the .v.tACchainnln, but there Islinie I can do. I will continue to push and beg the AMAC chairman to remember us·
FG says e-wallet is for extremely poor farmers he .:ederal Government , Sil).... the e-wallet rertiliser d trlbutJ.m s)'llem under the Q-owili Jnhancement Support Scbc~ II designed rorutre mtly peorl"lT ers. Dr. Olukayode Oyclc:yc. th!" SpKhl Assistant on Media and Sll"I .cgy to the MlniSier of Ap.rIcuhurc. and Rural o.:veh'Vluent, Pid this In iU1 In terview with the News Agency
I
of NiReria (NAN) in lbadan on Friday, H!!:spoic:e 10 NAN on the Addine of a two-day International Cocoa Conrerence ofJaniscd by the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Oye.le~ pid that the e-waJlel Will designed 10 assist the poor farmen who hitherto had been unable to Ifford buk aRriculturallnputJ. According to him. the scheme
J)'uem
is designed for only three yean. to enable the farmen afford the bulc input. to Improve their production. " The Growth Enhancement Support SdKme iJ an intervention meant 10 lift the poor fannnJ in ternu or enabling them to be abie to afford the basic inputs like rertiliser and some other (orms of agra,chemicals. " It is mea.ot to be applied in
such a way that (irst year, seccmd year, thi rd year, the fanne", lite enllbled to procure the InpulS that they need such that subsequently, they would now be abl!!: to have money to purchase these things without a ruoune to this kind o( Intervention any more. " So. it ls not meant for biR (armers, it is meant ror atremdy poor farmers, ifs meant to be u5ed ror about thrc:e y.:ars afier
which they will have mOIled up and they will now be empowered flnandaJly:' OydcyE said that those who had misRivingl .boul the scheme (.iled to embrace the scheme or did not believe It would work. He upiained how the scheme works. ·The way it works is such that states and fcdcnl Government contribute 25 per cenlto the cost OrlhOIC InpUls."