Senate Proposes One House, One Tree Policy In Abuja

Every house in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may now have to have at least one tree planted in its compound. Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, the Minister of FCT, has been directed to enforce the directive with immediate effect.

The Independent reports that the Senate Committee on FCT which gave the directive on Thursday also disclosed that arrangement has been concluded with banks and some other corporate organisations to take over sanitation of streets in the federal capital as part of their mandatory corporate social responsibility.

In the light of this, all debris clearing contracts with private organisations in the FCT is to be cancelled by the FCT administration as the banks take over the cleaning of the roads.

Money saved from the new policy, it was said, would be diverted to upgrade of facilities in all the satellite towns which have consistently suffer neglect.

Security agencies like the police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have also been given the mandate to rid the streets of Abuja of prostitutes, destitute, and beggars.

Speaking at a press conference, chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Dino Melaye, said that the management of about 15 banks as well as that of about 18 other organisations have keyed into the programme and the streets have been shared to them for maintenance.

According to him, the policy of each house to a tree being rejuvenated was necessitated by the urgent need to fight climate change with its attendant effect on ozone layer and the eco-system.

“Although the climate change issue is a global one being addressed in different ways by various governments, negative effects of the challenge has no doubt made us to come up with a special policy here in FCT as the committee over-sighting the territory has asked the minister to put necessary machinery in place for enforcement of the policy of every house per one tree planted by residents in the territory”, he said.

Melaye, who was at the briefing with other members of the committee, also disclosed that the committee had reached agreement with the FCT Administration on the contracts given to private contractors for cleaning of Abuja metropolitan roads to stop in view of the age long lack of positive results in that respect.

According to him, rather than continuing with the old method of contracting cleaning exercise of Abuja metropolitan roads to private contractors without the needed result, the committee had impressed it upon the FCT Administration to give such exercise to corporate bodies on the template of corporate social responsibility.

“Last week the committee on FCT summoned the MDs of all banks operating in the Federal Capital City and 15 banks attended. The essence of that meeting is to correct and ameliorate the problem associated with environmental sanitation of the Federal Capital City.

“We are also very uncomfortable with the number of hoodlums on our streets in Abuja. We have beggars, destitute, commercial sex workers spread across every nook and cranny of the city and we have given a marching order to the commissioner of police and the commandment of NSCDC and we have also instructed the FCT to provide logistics for the immediate evacuation of all destitute, beggars including those little boys who claim they are helping you to clean your glass by so doing they are adding additional dents to your cars.

“This is not a new trend across the globe and we want to believe that this will check wastage and it will also help to block leakages.”

Source: The Independent