Senate says Abuja too dirty, gives 21-day deadline for cleanup

The Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, has given the Area Councils in the capital 21 days to clean up parks, markets and the entire FCT or face sanction.
The Chairman of the Committee, Dino Melaye (APC Kogi West), gave the directive when the committee met with the chairmen of the six area councils in the territory.
Mr. Melaye said the FCT was too dirty to be the seat of power and a capital city, stressing that no state capital around the world was as dirty as the FCT.

“This committee is giving you three weeks to clean up the metropolis; the environmental sanitation in the FCT, the area councils especially AMAC is poor.
“You see heaps of rubbish on the road side; Abuja is the pride of Africa, we cannot let this continue.
“After three weeks, if you don’t clean up the FCT, we will clean you up: you cannot be collecting revenue from the market and the market will be very dirty.

“You go to our parks and it is an eyesore; two weeks you won’t clean the parks and you are generating money from that park and when they ask, you will say there is no money.
“We are very serious about cleaning up the city within three weeks, clean up Abuja, especially the satellite towns,” he said.

Mr. Melaye queried why a lot of money was being generated from markets and parks and yet they remained dirty.
He urged the chairmen to provide proper account of revenues generated from markets and parks and how they had been utilised over time.
Mr. Melaye said the committee, led by him, would pick a day when it would spend the whole day with the area councils to ascertain exactly how much they were generating daily.

“I am going to sit down with you from morning till closing time in Jabi Park; I am going to personally sign all the tickets that would be issued that day.
“I want to see what you are generating from what you have in your books; the era of personalising our commonwealth is over.

“So if you have been doing it wrongly, then you must repent and right the wrongs of the past,” he said.
He called on the area council chairmen to go and prepare for the visit of the committee.