As the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory go to the polls on February 12, 2022 to elect new chairmen and councilors to govern them for another term, some residents of Abuja who spoke with our correspondents, Chuks NZEH and Laraba MUREY, gave their assessments of the impact of governance in the councils. Excerpts:
KABIR.D MAKAMA:Â
Well, I think there is an impact. I move around AMAC and the chairman is doing well. He created about 30,000 jobs for the youth. So far, he has outdone his predecessors.  Also, “Obama” in Gwagwalada is doing well for his community. Abaji is also doing well. Although I don’t know about the other area councils.
I, however, recall that former ministers used to attend activities of the area council. Either the FCT Minister of State or FCT Minister, but in this administration, we don’t see them doing so. We want them to work hard because they are the ones who take messages to the presidency about the plight of the people.
ADENIYI JIDE OLAJIDE: frankly, I applaud the present chairman of AMAC for the road networks I have seen. I haven’t gone round the rest of the councils. I haven’t felt the impact of the rest and even the FCT administration.
CHRISTY JOSEPH: If want to measure governance, there should be parameters. Whatever project one is doing, we need to ask what is the impact on the lives of people, or welfare of the community? How accessible is this government? If local governments were responsible and up to task, we would not be having issues with Covid-19 testing and palliatives.
As a grassroots person, I should be able to access government’s help through my local government. How many students have been given scholarship? The mama olaja’s; what policies do we have in place to assist them in loan or grants, and healthcare? In this FCT, people were being chased about over the issue of revenue and taken to mobile court, yet they don’t even see the impact of the revenue they are paying.
SIKARI APAGU: I think area councils are more effective in areas like Kuje, Abaji among others. At the city center, for instance, the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, are those developing most of the infrastructure. AMAC, for me, is not doing much because it is overshadowed by the presence of the FCTA and the Federal Government.
What I see them do is to collect taxes from people, especially, the commercial motorbike and dispatch bike riders who operate within the municipality. And these guys, I can say, constitute nuisance in the society. Sometimes they hide by corners of the roads and chase vehicles for not paying one fee or the other. I think there should be a more decent way of collecting taxes. We are in the 21st century.
Suburbs like Kuje, Kwali, Bwari, Gwagwalada and Abaji are where proper assessment of the impact of area councils can be done because the FCTA barely focus on those areas. Sometimes, they are left to fend for themselves. But some of them are trying. They understand the plights of their people and intervene with the little resources available to them. But I think they can all do more by creating skills acquisition centres where some of these young men who are being used to intimidate people on the road can acquire skills and be independent.
Area councils can also develop sporting facilities to engage young people to develop their sporting potentials. That is what is paying people in the international market in hard currencies. Some of the sporting equipment are not that expensive and when made available, it would attract young people to pick interest in developing their skill.
AGATHA MAYOMIEJU: For me, the area councils are not doing enough. They are supposed to create an impact that would discourage people in the rural areas from migrating to the urban areas. But what we see today is that in the most cities, especially in Abuja, everyday people are trooping in.
I think area councils should be given targets, based on monies they receive as allocations and internally generated revenue, so that they would know that they have a target to meet and sit up. This would reduce the surge of rural to urban migration, and bring development to the communities especially in Abuja, where most people think they can come and make quick money.
At the city centre you would see all kinds of area council collections. They just collect taxes and the people who should benefit from them are not being satisfied with what they are doing. Go to some communities even in AMAC; they do not have light, water and basic amenities which the area councils should provide.
With area council elections well underway, the people in rural areas are not even properly sensitised to know what they need to know within the period
