Metro

Maikalangu tackles Candido over relaunched Abuja ‘Park And Pay’ Scheme

By Stanley Onyekwere

Following the planned revamping of the suspended controversial ‘Park and Pay’ policy by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Christopher Maikalangu has lampooned the Secretary, FCT Transport Secretariat, Hon Abdullahi Adamu Candido for allegedly misleading the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, on the policy.

Maikalangu, who is the successor of Candido as AMAC Chairman, said the plan by the FCTA would not be accepted by the Council, as it wasn’t the Administration’s duty to do so according to extant law.

The Council boss, in a statement from his Senior Special Assistant on Community Development, Yunusa Yusuf, described the move as unjustifiable and aimed at denying AMAC the right to get its legitimate revenue to provide social amenities to the people at the grassroots of the nation’s capital city.

He noted that the law does not permit another body to collect or manage motorists’ activities, especially on streets and motor parks in FCT, describing the recent announcement by the FCT Transportation Secretariat to reintroduce the ‘Park and Pay’ policy as very disturbing.

The statement reads: “ It was worrisome for the Transportation Secretariat to be cooking up a kangaroo way to implement the ‘park and pay’ policy, which ideally the law does not permit it to do and does not have the power to do.

“The FCTA should hands off the policy which has been planned to take off by the end of the first quarter of 2023. Because if it is allowed to return, it will affect revenue generation in the council.

“We want to clearly warn that nobody should cajole the minister to do the wrong thing. We know that the minister is lawabiding.

“It is clear that it is the responsibility of the local government to collect the park and pay or cooperate parking or any other name they want to fine tone or call it, so we want to tell the Transport Secretariat not to mislead the FCT administration.

“We want to say clearly as AMAC, we reject whatever action that will be introducing park and pay from the FCT Administration, it is not their duty, it is the duty of the local government, we have it in our laws, in our by-laws, in our acts, whatsoever you want to define it, and it has been both in the court of law, and it is clear that it is our responsibility.

“There are so many laws FCTA should concentrate on, not the ‘park and pay’. We have issues like that of the train station, people are dying, and neighboring communities are sacrificed for train stations and railways.

“They should go and attend to those issues, we know how people’s bags are been snatched in train stations.

“I think the FCTA has enough job to do, rather than concentrating on how to collect park and pay or cooperate parking or whatever it is called.

“It is solely the responsibility of AMAC and we have all the manpower required to enforce it and ensure that we get it done”.

NGO seeks stronger collaborations in humanitarian services

By Stanley Onyekwere

ANon-governmental Organization (NGO), Gracious Foundation has sort for a stronger partnership with the government, local and international donors and other spirited individuals to excel in its humanitarian services to the people.

The Foundation made this point at a workshop/ sensitisation, where health professionals gave talks on different areas, ranging from; menstruation, menstrual cycle, menstrual hygiene and everything a growing and maturing girl should know concerning her developing body.

Also, participants were exposed to the dangers inherent in unprotected sex and the need to maintain sexual purity as growing up girls.

The seminar, which centered on the consequences of engaging in early sexual intimacy with the opposite, also touched on how unwholesome practices could lead to unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/ AIDS, amongst others.

Speaking at the, founder of the NGO, Miss Amarachi Smart Ukonu, while distributing free sanitary pads to 96 teenage girls from Ndi Uduma Awoke Community of Abia state, decried poor usage and lack of awareness of its health implication.

Ukonu, the lead organiser of the Pad a Girl Child Outreach, reeled out the vision/mission of the Foundation to include: reaching out to vulnerable children and the youth in rural and semi-urban areas with the Gospel of Christ, health awareness and needs, educational empowerment, food provision, poverty alleviation, skill acquisition.

She also revealed that an extensive- random research conducted by her team and other concern Organizations showed that about 80 percent of adolescent girls in rural and semiurban areas use rags and tissue papers during menstruation, due to high cost of sanitary pads and lack of awareness of their health implication.

L-R: Project Coordinator, Fiscal Accountability for Inequality Reduction, Oxfam in Nigeria, Mr Henry; representative of the Country Director, Oxfam in Nigeria, Ms Regina Afiemo; Executive Director, Connected Development, Malam Hamzat Lawal; and the Coordinator, Climate Justice Project, Oxfam in Nigeria, Mr Kenneth Akpan, during the World Economic Forum/Davos 2023 news conference on ‘how we must tax the super-rich now to fight inequality’ and the unveiling of Davos 2023 Inequality Report, yesterday in Abuja . Photo; Justin Imo-owo

FCTA tasks directors on excellent service

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has enjoined the newly promoted Directors to justify their elevation in their respective cadres by ensuring excellent service delivery.

Recall that the Administration promoted 6,784 staff with 174 for the position of Directors and 6,610 for Deputy Directors and below across the Secretariats, Departments and Agencies.

FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, who gave this charge, said out of 7,144 that participated in the process, 6,784 were successful.

He said promotion exercise in Civil Service is not automatic, but only those who work hard and dedicate themselves to the service will earn it.

He added that the FCT Administration has always considered the restructuring of administrative system as priority to enhance effective and efficient productivity.

The Permanent Secretary, in a statement from Director, FCT Information & Communication, Muhammad Hazat Sule, noted that the promotion was transparent and unbiased; adding that those who got it, truly earned it.

He, however, warned the staff of the FCT Administration against indulging in acts inimical to Civil Services rule; adding that the Administration will not hesitate to apply necessary sanction to anyone found wanting in the discharge of his/her function.

The Permanent Secretary commended the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, for his support in the course of the exercise.

Earlier, the Director, Human Resource Management Department, Mallam Muhammad Bashir explained that the examination for the promotion of the officers was conducted in accordance with the Civil Service rules and regulations.

He equally urged the newly promoted officials to redouble their efforts in the service of the FCT Administration.