Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has criticised the widely publicised infrastructural development drive in Abuja credited to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
He also dismissed the Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s claim that Abuja has started resembling London.
Speaking on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Friday, January 10, 2025, Dalung challenged Akpabio’s assertion, citing the realities of his own environment in Abuja.
“If the Senate President is feeling like he’s in London, it could be the London of his own immediate environment,” Dalung remarked.
Dalung, who had earlier alleged the presence of “dangerous cabals” in President Bola Tinubu’s administration, described the narratives surrounding Wike’s projects in the FCT as misleading and out of touch with the city’s fundamental challenges. He argued that Abuja, like many parts of Nigeria, still struggles with inadequate access to essential services.
“I think there is misrepresentation of progress and limiting it to the elites alone or privileged class. It’s unfair. In Abuja, I know there’s no water. Most people support themselves with private initiatives through boreholes. The public school system in Abuja is not different from (those) in any part of Nigeria. The healthcare delivery system is of course like a transit camp,” Dalung said.
He questioned the emphasis on road construction as a measure of development, asserting that such projects do not address the pressing needs of ordinary citizens.
“These are the services that affect common people directly, not road construction. How many poor Nigerians have vehicles, so we cannot be emphasising dualisation or road construction as development,” he added.
Dalung further reiterated that the cabals around President Tinubu are pursuing selfish interests, thereby disconnecting the president from the realities faced by Nigerians. When pressed to identify the individuals he described as cabals derailing Tinubu’s governance, Dalung declined, stating that he reserves the right to withhold names.
