APC claims rapid developmental growth in FCT

The Women Wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed that the party in power has done much to deserve commendation as its Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter has given their take on the two years administration of FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello.

Speaking for the women, Leader of the ruling APC in FCT, Mrs. Hailmary Aipoh, in an exclusive interview with the Abuja Times, said that the Minister is doing perfectly well.

Presently, the APC has the majority followership, including among women in the territory, boasting far superior grassroots popularity than any other political party in the six Area Councils in FCT. It effectively controls five and shores up its mass appeal by having an even greater number of councillorship seats than its rivals.

The Woman Leader listed several areas where the Minister’s work has positively affected the lives of the common people, enumerating them as infrastructure development, environmental sanitation, agriculture, health, education, women empowerment, security, among others.

Mrs. Aipoh said she is directly in touch with the grassroots on a day-to-day basis and has steady feedback from the masses of women on their reactions to the programmes of FCT Administration (FCTA) under Malam Bello.

She said: I go out every day. I’m a grassroots person and we hear the people talk and commend the Minister because they have experienced life-changing actions from his Administration.”

According to her, the Minister has been demonstrably passionate about skills acquisition and empowerment of women, hence he empowered over 500 women through the Skills Acquisition Centre in Nyanya while there is a standing directive which allows Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) to give women quarterly slots in its massive wealth creation schemes.

She recalled that last December, there was a training programme for the disabled following which they were empowered to cater for themselves, stressing that empowerment is an ongoing process in the Administration.

Mrs. Aipoh added that Abuja is now a cleaner place to live and do business because the Minister has been tackling head-on the hitherto unsightly environmental sanitation challenges which bedeviled the nation’s capital and gave it a bad name.

This feat, she stated, has given the Minister high mark-ups among the populace and visitors alike. In agriculture, the party chieftain emphasised that great accomplishments are being made.

According to her, while past administrations concentrated in creating opportunities for people to loot the public till, the Bello Administration plugged those leakages and rather diverted the people’s focus to self-actualisation through worthy ventures such as farming.
New sets of millionaires are being created through agriculture, she disclosed, as the Administration has given solid encouragement to provision of farm implements, sale of fertilizer at subsidized rates, provision of seedlings to the real, as against contractor-farmers, as well as a bouquet of inviting incentives which gave a boost to interest in agriculture.

This Administration is teaching us to take our destiny in our hands, to use our hands to do things. There are now farms everywhere, little gardens here and there. For me, for two years now, I have not bought ugu (pumpkin leaves). I also have a fish pond.

Many women now have farms. The common man is having it good under this Administration-no more importation of some things has encouraged our people to step up to the play to produce those things locally and people are making clean money,” she added.

Turning to the health sector, Mrs. Aipoh remarked that FCTA-owned hospitals, even those in remote areas, are well-equipped and service delivery is fast and easily affordable by the common people.

Mrs. Aipoh also pointed to restoration of functional streetlights in Abuja, tight security of the FCT which has led to population explosion with people in other parts of the country, particularly beleaguered areas, aware of the safe haven that FCT under Malam Bello has now become, as some other achievements for which the public is applauding the Minister.

But the APC leader called for patience on the part of residents, saying what is in place is a process that will lead to a much better end soon. She likened the situation to that of a pregnant woman who feels some pains during labour, but rejoices greatly once the baby is born.

Nigerians, especially FCT residents, should be patient. The Minister is taking us somewhere. FCT will be much better for us all. Before 2019, Nigerians will see greater things,” Mrs. Aipoh pleaded.