Citizens’ engagement platform will engender unity among Nigerians – FCT Minister

…Says platform will checkmate activities of vandals

By Taofeek LAWAL, Abuja

Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, has said the public presentation of the FCT Citizens’ Engagement Platform by the Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department (RCSID), of the FCTA  will not only promote ethnic, religious and tribal harmony among the residents but will also address the issue of fake news by establishing authentic information for the benefits of all.

Bello, who was represented by the Minister of State, FCT, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, said communication plays a key role in information dissemination for good and efficient service delivery. He said the platform could not have at a better time as it will bridge the gap between the government and the citizens through the use of the traditional and the new media. According to the minister, the platform is a good avenue to showcase laudable projects to benefit the people and afford the citizens to keep eye on national assets and report the activities of unscrupulous elements to those in authority.

The Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA), Engineer Umar Gambo Jibrin, said the agency is concerned about the activities of vandals who have damaged over 25,000 manholes across the territory. He implored the citizens to cooperate with the government for efficient service delivery while adding that the FCDA has deployed technology to monitor the activities of the vandals. Participants at the event agreed that the new interactive platform will enable the users to interact, communicate and send feedback with ease with access to online chat room, respond to comment and assess government developmental policies and programs.

The Acting Director RCSID, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, said the platform will afford residents and visitors of the FCT and Nigeria citizens the world over the opportunity to be able to connect with FCT. She said communities such as Gwarinpa, Wuse, Kubwa, Abaji and others across the FCT will create their accounts and periodically upload the information that the FCTA will act on with support from other FCT agencies. She gave the addresses of the platform as www.myfctagov.ng for citizens’ participation and the www.myfctaconnect.gov.ng for inter-agency collaboration.

“There is no way you can claim to be running a city without a say from the people you are serving because we are all here to serve the residents. And if they don’t have the first-hand information about what you do, it will be difficult to say that we have deployed the needed services to them. There is also the inter-agency collaboration which is an opportunity for all our departments to work together. It will be a continuous process because things happen every day and change is constant. The moment we receive any alert from the public, we are going to build on that and be sure that we are up-to-date in the services we render on the platform,” she said.