Reflections on a city gate, prostitutes and a mission house

In addition to this charge, the FCT Minister, Senator Abdulkadir Bala Mohammed, was also accused of budgeting N5 billion for rehabilitating some prostitutes  in the FCT, a charge which has drawn quite a large volume of scorn even in the most unexpected quarters.As the digital age grows and public awareness increases, so does the need […]

In addition to this charge, the FCT Minister, Senator Abdulkadir Bala Mohammed, was also accused of budgeting N5 billion for rehabilitating some prostitutes  in the FCT, a charge which has drawn quite a large volume of scorn even in the most unexpected quarters.
As the digital age grows and public awareness increases, so does the need for greater caution on the need for doing what a philosopher called mind-cleansing to avoid joining a crowd to sing a non-existent song. It is therefore proper that a diligent study be carried out on issues of this nature by public commentators most of whom I often refer to as gate keepers of public conscience.
The earlier mentioned two charges against the minister as well as the accusation that he is committing a sum of N4 billion of public funds to erect a building for a project of the wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan, have charged up the atmosphere with leading public figures particularly those in civil society threatening to organize mass rallies if he did not rescind his decision.
Public rallies have been held against and in support of the projects and even a section of the media have jumped onto the wagon and have thus helped to scale the matter up to frenzy. While all these point to our increasing social consciousness as a people, it also calls for some reflection on the truthfulness and rightness of issues under consideration.
As a concerned Nigerian living in Abuja and worried also that government officials may be misusing public funds, I decided to do some investigating of my own and what I have found is quite at variance with the information that has been released into the public space and which has gone viral on social networks.
In the first place in the 2013 budget presented to the FCT administration to both the Senate and House of Representatives, there is nowhere in the voluminous document where request was made for the appropriation of N7.5 billion for the construction of a City Gate. That item just did not appear at all. The true position of the matter is even before the current FCT Minister was appointed in April 2010; a contract had been awarded in 2009 by the government of late President Umaru Yar’Adua for the expansion of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway (Airport Road), Abuja where the former City Gate was. This fact is verifiable and Nigerians wishing to know the truth can approach their representatives in the National Assembly who are duty bound by the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act to provide same.
Just as equally fictitious as the City Gate claim is the allegation that the FCT plans to spend a whopping N5 billion on the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers in the Federal Capital.
Findings show that the real figure appropriated in the budget for this purpose is a fraction of the amount alleged. The total estimate on this head is N150 million. Indeed, the entire budget of the Social Development Secretariat of the FCT, the office charged with such responsibility, is N4.7 billion, an amount less than the figure bandied about in the media and social networks, that the FCT plans to spend on rehabilitating prostitutes and destitute.
If the argument had been that the N150 million budgeted by the administration is too little given the hardship faced by individuals at the lower rung of the social ladder, it would have made more sense. It is clear that if we must move forward as a nation, we must entrench the principles of decency and fairness in national life. As a people, we need to strike a balance between the need to hold government officials accountable and being responsible and patriotic citizens. We should, when the occasion demands, as in this present case, not resort to knee-jerk responses on critical national matters but should seek to know the truth.
If all that has taken place in the last one or two weeks regarding the FCT budget had happened about a year ago, it would perhaps have been excusable. Today, there is no excuse. The Freedom of Information Act has been signed into law, meaning that Nigerians should have greater access to information as to how government and its agencies run the affairs of state. It is thus inexcusable for anyone to indulge in the spreading of falsehood on such an important without taking steps to ascertain the truth.
It our penchant for jumping to conclusions that has also a lot of people to vilify the FCT Minister for as one leading national newspaper put it for providing:
Unlike the City Gate and prostitutes appropriations, which are either non-existent or which mischief makers over-exaggerated, the FCT actually budgeted N4 billion for the building of the Secretariat of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) of the African Union (AU). However, there has been a lot of misrepresentation on the matter.
The truth is that contrary to the impression being created, the building provided for in the budget is not for the office of Mrs. Patience Jonathan. It belongs to the AFLPM, a body duly recognized by the Africa Union. The AFLPM was created in 1996 for the promotion of peace and harmony in Africa. Its establishment followed on the heels of the 1995 Beijing Conference in China and its declaration in Zimbabwe consequent upon which the AU (then Organisation for African Unity) adopted the idea. Later, at a meeting, all African First Ladies present resolved to make Abuja the seat of its permanent secretariat.
Now, you may ask, what business of the FCT is it to construct a building for the AFLPM? The answer is as straightforward as it is simple.
The Act establishing the FCT, Decree 6 of 1976(now FCT Act 6, Cap 503, laws of the Federation) vests it and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) with the authority to design and construct public buildings on behalf of the Federal Government for use by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) as well as other national and international organisations in the overall interests of the Nigerian people and mankind generally.
I think that rather than blame or castigate the current FCT minister for carrying out what is a statutory responsibility, anger or displeasure should rather be directed at those who in their wisdom decided that Nigeria should take up the responsibility of building edifices for international organisations.
It is my considered view that a nation which voluntarily joins an international organisation has agreed to fulfil all obligations which come with such membership. The African Union which is the parent body of the AFLPM is driven by a pan African consciousness and Nigeria is one of the major driving forces behind whatever success it has recorded. The honuor of hosting a secretariat of this nature comes with sacrifices and benefits. Ours cannot be different from the examples of cities like Oslo, Geneva, Ontario and a few others whose major attraction is the number of international headquarters and conferences they host annually.
Habeeb is an Abuja based IT practitioner, <[email protected]>