Jonathan inherited insurgency in the northeast, says Bala

The insecurity problem in the northeast of the country was inherited by President Goodluck Jonathan and not created by his administration, Bala Mohammed, minister of the federal capital territory, has said.

Speaking during a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday, Mohammed reiterated that Jonathan inherited the insurgency and that his government had been “working assiduously” to tackle it headlong.

According to him, “the problem is not restricted to Nigeria because it has a global dimension”.

Nevertheless, he assured Nigerians that this government still has the “willpower to defeat and stamp out insurgency from the country and make it history”.

Consequently, Mohammed called for support for the government and the military.

He also claimed that the Transformation Agenda of the president had succeeded in putting smiles on the faces of FCT residents, citing the expansion and rehabilitation of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua airport road and the Murtala Muhammad Kubwa road as achievements of the administration.

The minister added that the federal government under Jonathan had been able to complete the Gurara water transfer scheme as well as the third and fourth phases of the lower Usuma Dam.

He also assured Abuja residents that the FCT administration would deploy a substantial part of its projected N300 billion to N400 billion earnings from internally generated revenue (IGR) to the funding of rural and neighbourhood infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.

“With the passage of the FCT Board of Internal Revenue Act by the national assembly, the internally generated revenue profile of the FCT is expected to rise significantly with positive multiplier effects on the residents,” he said.

The minister emphasised that the FCTA hoped to generate about N300 billion to N400 billion annually, adding that the anticipated revenue would be used to fund infrastructure and accelerate development of the entire 8,000 square kilometers of the territory as well as pay the outstanding debt owed contractors.

He revealed that the FCT administration would soon launch another batch of 300 taxis that would be owned by the drivers to alleviate poverty and stamp out rickety commercial vehicles in Abuja.