FCT Minister Malam Muahammad Bello

The people of Orozo community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday in Abuja decried the lack of social amenities in the area.

The people of the community made their feelings known at a Town Hall meeting on “Community Participation in Good Governance Project’’.

The event was organised by the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Abuja chapter, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

Mrs Bosede Idris, who had lived in Orozo for five years, said people of the area had to provide power supply by themselves due to the lack of electricity.

She said that the community bought a transformer from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) recently to boost power supply, but still it could not cover the community.

Idris also decried state of the Primary Health Care Centre in the community, stressing that there was an urgent need to equip the facility.

Idris, who is also the community health leader, alleged that the lives of pregnant women and children in the area were in danger as some of the health personnel assigned to the centre were not professionals.

She claimed that some of them studied political science, and psychology among others.

According to her, Orozo has no good road facility and proper drainage system, making the roads in the area unusable during the rainy season.

Mr Chinedu Mbonu, Chairman Prayer Avenue, Orozo, also complained of lack of electricity supply.

“We bought poles and hustled for transformer ourselves, for the past three years there has have a new court in the community but lawyers cannot come because of the bad road.

“Recently, there were some boys claiming to be from the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), who were harassing shop owners in the community, this has to stop,” Mbonu said.

Mr Moses Eneh, complained of the absence of a Senior Secondary School in the community, stating that they had to send their children to schools in other communities.

He noted that since the Federal Government took over the Federal Science Technical College, Orozo, which was formerly a secondary school in the community, it had not been replaced.

Eneh added that various letters had been written to the Secondary Education Board as well as paid visits to the director of education, FCT, but all efforts had not yielded any positive result as they kept promising without action.

He appealed to the government to as a matter of urgency build a secondary school for the community to achieve the education for all goal, the Goal four of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr Shedrach Yusuf, called for the establishment of skills acquisition centres in the community to help women and youths in the community develop their skills.

Yusuf also said that lack of waste disposal in the area encouraged indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which posed a threat to their health.

Earlier, the Chief of Orozo Community, Musa Adogo, commended JDPC for enlightening them on how to bring development to their community by holding government accountable.

Adogo said that the community had decided to oppose any politician that would make promises and not fulfil them in the next election, stating that they were fed up of their deceit.

“We can no longer condone the negligence on the part of our representatives.

“When the time comes we will not vote for anybody anyhow again like we used to, they have been deceiving our people making promises and we have not seen any positive development.

“Especially our councillors representing us, many of them after getting into office abandon the community, they don’t even come back to appreciate our votes.’’

The chief said that the community lacked good road network, senior secondary school and power supply in spite of various complaints made to the relevant authorities, “nothing has been done’’.

He added that AEDC brings exorbitant bills for them even when there was no electricity in the community.

He said there was the need for government to intervene and alleviate their sufferings to ensure sustainable development in the community.

Mr Henry Unongo, JDPC Project Manager, said that the Community Participation in Good Governance Project, was aimed at ensuring that members of communities were enlightened on the budgetary provisions for their communities.

He added that the enlightenment would enable them hold their representatives in government accountable to their responsibilities.

“It has been discovered that over the years, community projects are provided for in the budget but the projects don’t see the light of day as the budgets are not established.

“We are here to ensure that we create a space for the people to participate in issues that concern them, enlightening them on how to hold their governments accountable.

“They should be able to hold their duty bearers accountable asking the relevant questions and the people representing them in government should be able to identify with their community.’’

He said that the JDPC was also training the community on ways they could get their representatives committed to developing the community by signing an agreement.

The project manager noted that the agreement would be signed on a paper called “Charter of Demands” that would be presented to the politicians during their campaign.

He also said that the agreement signed would be used as a tool to challenge the politicians and hold them accountable to their promises when they fail to deliver.

Unongo added that the problems of the community could easily be addressed if their representatives related well with them.