The pressure on the social infrastructure on the FCT was due to overpopulation as Abuja was not designed for the kind of population it is experiencing today.
The Director General of the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (CLTC), Mr Adesoji Eniade said this on Tuesday is Abuja at a Stakeholders Dialogue on Addressing Infrastructural and Service Delivery gaps in rural communities.
It was organised by Statecraft Foundation for Development Outcomes and Inclusion, in partnership with the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF).
“Abuja was not designed for the kind of overpopulation it is experiencing today. Abuja was designed as an administrative city with minimal economic and industrial activities. But today the situation has completely changed beyond the dreams of the founding fathers of the city.
“And there is a lot of pressure on the social infrastructure facilities and services in the city. Talk of housing, transportation, waste management, water supply. All these facilities for which the city was designed for a particular kind of population,” Eniade said.
He said though it is expected that the city will grow, the pace of growth of Abuja is not matched by the pace of provision of the social infrastructure facilities in the city.
He said that the way out is to first develop the satellite towns and ensure that the satellite towns are provided with the needed services, especially transportation.
He said, “So that even people who work in Abuja, in the city center, can commute every morning. Do the work in the daytime, go back to their various houses in the satellite towns, to bring down the pressure, from the city centre.”
Speaking earlier, Executive Director of
Statecraft Foundation, Emmanuel Obiabo, stakeholders’ dialogue was to address the infrastructural and service delivery gaps in rural communities in FCT.
“The objective of this dialogue is to facilitate discussions and commitments by key stakeholders on addressing identified gaps, opportunities, and strategies relating to infrastructure and service delivery in rural communities, such as in education, primary healthcare, road, water and sanitation, power supply, and economic empowerment,” Obiabo said.
He also urged the state and local governments to prioritise infrastructure development to reduce rural-urban migration so that all parts of the country can record even and rapid development.
He said the event was also part of the Enhancing Community Youth Associations for Service Delivery project implemented by Statecraft Foundation so that the 10 project communities; government stakeholders and civil society organizations to discuss, strategize, and see how they can address identified gaps, within the community and ways to address them.
While some of the communities listed litany of challenges, especially road, health centres and electricity, a representative of the FCT mandate secretariat assured that the FCTA is addressing many of the challenges as can be seen in the present administration.
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