Wike Frowns At State Of Two Abuja Rail Stations
By: Wisdom Acka
FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has expressed displeasure over poor state of two stations of the Abuja Light Rail.
The Minister, who made this known during inspection of repairs on the rail facilities on Thursday, warned that he would not take excuses for the poor state of the two stations.
The stations are the Metro station, located in the Central Business District and the Kukwaba II station, located in Piwoyi district.
Wike specifically stated that he was not happy with the poor condition of security at the Metro station, while on the Kukwaba station, he was not satisfied with its engineering design.
He noted that for the May 24 completion deadline of the work to be met, the contractors would have to work round the clock for the delivery of the project.
His word: “When we first visited the Metro station, I discovered that there were many security lapses, and I remember when I first came after our inauguration, I did say that we have to work on the issue of security by putting up the fence around the Metro Station to ward off criminals. But unfortunately, that has not been done. To my surprise, it was discovered that the contract was not even awarded to CCECC. It is a different contract awarded by the FCT, and this is my first time hearing that and we are going to take it up immediately to see that it is being put in place.”
The Minister also spoke about vandalization of facilities on the rail system, indicating that culprits would be severely dealt with.
“We must also talk about the kind of vandalization and stealing that is going on there. We have security companies that were awarded contracts to secure those areas, yet things are happening”, he added.
“Excuses are being given on how security agencies release those that are caught but for me, that is not enough, and we are going to make sure that we have a different method to be adopted, to see that we can’t continue to give excuses every day,” Wike said.
“I have also directed that all the stations must be cleaned and also all the necessary things there must be provided. There’s no room for excuses at all,” the Minister stressed.
He, however, expressed optimistic that the deadline would be met; adding that the projects would be ready before May, even as he insisted that the contractors must step up the work.
Recall that Wike had, late last year, revealed that President Bola Tinubu had given him marching orders to complete the rail works for him to ride on the train by May 29.
He reiterated: “This is one project that I’m so passionate about, and you know that Mr. President gave me a directive that must not be taken for granted.
Therefore, we must come and make sure that things are in good shape. So, I’m not happy. The company must speed up, and those who are doing the access roads must also speed up.”
“Here we are standing, and we have been assured that this road will be completed before May, we just hope so and this is the best I can tell you now. I’m not a pessimist, but also, I doubt. But by putting all our energies together, we might achieve it”, he hoped.
