Group Calls for Youth Inclusion in FCT Administration

By Zakaa Lazarus Abuja

Forum Calls for Youth Inclusion in FCT Administration

A group under the agies of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Youth Stakeholders Forum, has called on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike to involved youth in his administration.

The group made the call during a Press conference in Abuja.

Co-convener, Abdullahi Suleiman Ango noted that it was compulsory for the youth in FCT to be taken along in the scheme of things, especially in the day to day running of the FCT.

The forum commended the President, Bola Tinubu on the choice of the FCT Minister while noting specific areas of development that need urgent overhaul in the capital city.

According to Ango, “the youth are a key component of economic drive and are the largest demographic in the FCT.

“We have no doubt that the President took this fact into consideration in appointing the Honorable Minister and Minister of State solely to ensure that the youth are duly carried along in policy conception and implementation to ensure broad-based support for the success of President Tinubu’s vision.

“FCT has been relatively peaceful over the years but there is an aggressive rise of cases of insecurity in the rural communities and some parts of the city with recorded ill activities of Kidnaping, Incessant killings, Wonton destruction of properties, and One chance as well as Car Theft.

“There is need to rejig both the primary and secondary education in Abuja to ensure quality education, the tertiary education is in dire need of better commitment and overhaul.

“FCT College of Education is in need of improved funding and massive infrastructural development to enable the institution to absorb more young persons in Abuja and for it to compete with other institutions across the country.

“The FCT University of Science and Technology, Abaji is also in need of funding and political will for take-off with a view to helping in producing young vibrant graduates in different fields of science that will drive the economy of Nigeria.

Speaking further they noted that, “FCT has deteriorated in terms of environmental sanitation management, and there is a need for a more holistic approach to improve environmental sanitation management beyond mere waste collection and disposal towards sustainable development of the FCT.

“There is no doubt that the FCT is in urgent need of urban renewal to bring it back to a position of pride in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

“FCT needs good hands to handle the management of the city as promised by the Honorable minister in his address on assumption of office.

“The new administration must give more than usual attention to this area so that the people can feel the impact of the government more and for new economic frontiers to open up within the FCT.

“More importantly the indigenous people should be carried along in all developmental policies as it affect their communities.

Zakari Gambo Babale, also a co-convener tasked the administration to consult widely, especially with indigenes to know the places of dire needs and yearnings of the people.

Babale said, “If we are consulted on what to do and how to do it, we know the yearnings and pains of our people if consulted we will better guide the administration on what they need to do and how they need to do it to have better governance in the FCT.

“We will be partners in progress because we want political and economic relevance for our people.

“We have always worked in collaboration with the past administration and we will continue to do so even with the present.