No development in Abuja during Buhari’s regime; we’ve turned it into construction site: Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says the Bola Tinubu administration has turned Abuja into a construction site.

Mr Wike stated this when the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, visited him in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said construction and other development activities had stopped in Abuja before the Tinubu-led government.

“Before now, it does appear that there were no activities in Abuja, with many residents complaining that the city is so docile and nothing was happening.

“However, since we came on board, you can see that activities have come up in terms of infrastructure, particularly road infrastructure.

“We can proudly say that we have turned Abuja into a construction site, which was not the case in the past eight years,” he said.

The minister added that the priority of the FCT Administration was centred on the president’s priority and his “Renewed Hope” agenda, adding that the administration had recorded some progress, particularly on security.

“You can comparatively say today that the level of insecurity has come down so much in Abuja because of the level of support and the commitment of security agencies, particularly the police,” the minister said.

According to him, the police and other security agencies were given “a lot” of logistic support, which aided the reduction in crime rates.

“I can tell you that we have made tremendous progress in arresting kidnappers, and I am sure you are following the news about the everyday arrest of criminals,” he said.

Mr Wike identified key priority areas of the FCT administration: job creation, tourism, and agriculture. He said the administration was ready to partner with investors to develop the tourism and agricultural sectors to enhance job creation.

Earlier, Mr Montgomery explained that he was in the minister’s office to seek his views and understand his priorities for the development of the Federal Capital Territory.

Mr Montgomery explained that the UK recently signed new defence, security and enhanced trade and investment partnerships with Nigeria.

He added that his country was equally providing technical support in developing the Abuja Industrial Park, which would create jobs for Nigerian youths in the long run.

“I absolutely agree with you on the jobs and agriculture focus, and I am pleased to say that we have a programme on agriculture that is trying to improve the value chain,” he stated.

On the economy, the high commissioner said his country was conscious that the long-term prosperity of Nigeria comes from the tough reforms the government was putting in place.

“This, we believed, quite strongly, will put Nigeria on a higher growth path, creating more jobs and better livelihood in the future,” he said.