Rural water supply is number one priority — Shazin

Mr. Joseph Shazin, was the former chairman of Kwali Area Council, Abuja, between 2010 to 2013 on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He lost re-election to the outgoing chairman of the council, Mr. Ibrahim Daniel, of the PDP, in 2013, when he sought for re-election. But he just won the […]

Mr. Joseph Shazin, was the former chairman of Kwali Area Council, Abuja, between 2010 to 2013 on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He lost re-election to the outgoing chairman of the council, Mr. Ibrahim Daniel, of the PDP, in 2013, when he sought for re-election. But he just won the April 9, 2016, council poll on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in which he defeated the Daniel.  In this interview, he spoke to Aso Chronicle about his plans for the councils.

How do you assess the just concluded FCT area council elections, especially the process that led to your victory at the polls?
I think the process was a fair one, which I must commend the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and all the security agencies that ensured that the exercise ended peacefully without any form of  violence and acrimony. Besides, where I registered and voted, the card reader was perfect, except at some point, when there was a little delay while capturing fingerprints of some voters. But I can say the entire process was okay. And I must also commend the electorate across the 10 wards for conducting themselves peacefully throughout the exercise, and for also ensuring that they stood firmly to defend their votes.
How were you able to unseat the outgoing  chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Daniel, of the PDP, because incumbency influences the outcome of elections in Nigerian politics?
You see, power of incumbency does not work in Kwali Area Council. I have often said that no matter the performance of any elected chairman, which if you can remember I told the press shortly after I won the party chairmanship primaries, that defeating an incumbent chairman is very easy in Kwali. So, the issue of power of incumbency may work in other area councils, but in Kwali it doesn’t. I was incumbent chairman under the then ANPP, when the outgoing chairman under the PDP, pushed me aside, while this time around I also came back and pushed him aside too. Besides, that has been the practice right from the administration of late Samuel Gwomna, especially when people are not content with your administration, it is easy for people to mobilize everything at their disposal to push the person down and that was what happened in the just concluded council election.
And let me tell you that, why this present one was so easy was because he did not perform. When we went round during the campaign, we couldn’t see any viable project on ground that has direct bearing on the lives of the people of Kwali. I can only recommend four projects which he executed like the Yangoji-Dafa road, Anguwar -Kashew road, solar street light in Kwali town and the construction of the Tungan-Sarki box culvert and then, may be, two or three boreholes he sank in Kwali, which are his only achievements.
And I want to make it categorically clear that by the standard of what my administration did during my first tenure between 2010 to 2013, there is a very clear difference. There is no village you will go to and not see one project or the other that I executed, especially in the area of provision of potable water, grading of rural roads and construction of culverts. If you go round, the boreholes I sunk are virtually broken down and the outgoing administration failed to refurbish or sink new ones for such communities. And that is why when APC was trying to field a candidate, some party stakeholders consulted me. I was reluctant in the first place, but virtually 85 percent of people from the rural areas pressurized me to contest. I believe people of these rural areas must have seen what I did for them during my first tenure and that was why they wanted me back. I thank them for their support.
As you assume office come May 17, 2016, what are the areas your administration intends to focus on, as there are high expectations from your electorate and perhaps you may have a target when you will be marking 100 days in office?
 Well, it is obvious that there are high expectations, especially from those who voted for us, even though, like I said earlier, there are piles of projects that were abandoned by the outgoing administration, which I had executed and were about 75 percent completed, but the outgoing administration did not complete any of them like the Daka road, which is now terribly bad.
I want to tell you that the major problem people of Kwali have been facing, especially people of the rural areas, is water. If I can provide them with water and grade their roads, their problem is solved. In fact, virtually 75 percent of rural people in Kwali lack access to potable water. Places like Pangu village -if you see the kind of water they drink, you will shed tears for them. We are going to concentrate on the provision of water for most of the villages because what we saw during our campaign was pathetic.
Also, poor road network in the villages is a major problem and it is going to be one of the top priorities of my administration.  When I will be marking 100 days in office, water and grading of rural roads must have received the required attention. Even though we will be at the peak of rainy season, we will still look at roads that need urgent attention so that farmers can transport their farm produce to the market.
Also, we intend to renovate any dilapidated primary school across rural communities, including primary healthcare centres, especially the abandoned clinic at Lambata village, where patients have to take the risk to cross the highway to seek for medical attention in Kwali town. We will complete the abandoned clinic so that residents of the community will have access to health care services.   
The council will provide drugs and all the necessary equipment after completion of the health centre.
There have been calls by groups, individuals and organizations, including some of the outgoing council chairmen for the abolition of joint account with the FCTA, what is your take on that?          
The Joint Allocation as they operate it in the FCT is not in the interest of the area councils. Recently, the revenue has been very low and the councils cannot generate much. So the little revenue generated by the FCTA which the area councils are supposed to get 10 percent of has not been forthcoming. Some states like Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa and few other have abolished the joint account outrightly, but the area councils here may not be able to stand on their own without depending on revenue generated from the city center. As you can see, 70 percent of the revenue from the FCT is from AGIS and other places. So, by the time they abolish the joint account, well,  I reserve my comment on this for now, let’s see how things will take shape first.