The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has announced the suspension of its on-street park and pay scheme in Abuja with immediate effect.
This was announced yesterday in a statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media to the FCT Minister, Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi.
Ogbuenyi said the suspension was in compliance with the judgment of an FCT High Court last Thursday, declaring the system illegal.
According to him, the Secretary of Transportation of the FCTA, Mr. Jonathan Ivoke, had already dispatched a letter to the operators of the scheme informing them of the suspension.
This was announced yesterday in a statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media to the FCT Minister, Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi.
Ogbuenyi said the suspension was in compliance with the judgment of an FCT High Court last Thursday, declaring the system illegal.
According to him, the Secretary of Transportation of the FCTA, Mr. Jonathan Ivoke, had already dispatched a letter to the operators of the scheme informing them of the suspension.
He reminded that the scheme was conceived and launched by the FCTA for the purpose of effective traffic management and control in the nation's capital city especially against the backdrop of its fast growth in vehicular population.
He said: "The introduction of the scheme is in sync with the standard practice in many mega cities around the world.
"However, while the scheme has been widely hailed for helping to bring about orderliness, sanity, beauty and reduction in auto crashes on FCT roads and streets, some persons and groups opposed to the new order have launched ferocious attacks against it especially through the institution of several legal actions challenging its legal status."
Judgment of Justice Peter Affen of an Abuja High Court which had declared the scheme illegal was the culmination of the attacks launched against the new system by some aggrieved members of the public. .
Ogbuenyi however noted that the court in delivering the judgment rated the scheme as an excellent policy but only faulted it on the grounds that there was no valid legislation backing it.
He said: "The introduction of the scheme is in sync with the standard practice in many mega cities around the world.
"However, while the scheme has been widely hailed for helping to bring about orderliness, sanity, beauty and reduction in auto crashes on FCT roads and streets, some persons and groups opposed to the new order have launched ferocious attacks against it especially through the institution of several legal actions challenging its legal status."
Judgment of Justice Peter Affen of an Abuja High Court which had declared the scheme illegal was the culmination of the attacks launched against the new system by some aggrieved members of the public. .
Ogbuenyi however noted that the court in delivering the judgment rated the scheme as an excellent policy but only faulted it on the grounds that there was no valid legislation backing it.
He said as a law abiding organisation that strongly believes in the rule of law, the FCTA had decided to comply with the judgment of the court.
By this decision, he stated, all the operators licensed by the FCTA had been directed to immediately suspend the operation of the scheme to give full effect to the judgment.
Ogbuenyi added that FCTA had set in motion the process for a review of the FCT Road Transport Regulation, 2005 to address the legal lacuna and to properly capture the on-street park and pay scheme including the incorporation of the extensive review already started by the administration.
"The review is expected to address perceived loopholes in the scheme," he said.
Meanwhile, the FCTA has absolved the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, of involvement in the award and execution of the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) project in Abuja.
The Special Assistant on Media to the minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, in a statement issued yesterday, said the CCTV contract was neither awarded nor executed by the FCTA.
By this decision, he stated, all the operators licensed by the FCTA had been directed to immediately suspend the operation of the scheme to give full effect to the judgment.
Ogbuenyi added that FCTA had set in motion the process for a review of the FCT Road Transport Regulation, 2005 to address the legal lacuna and to properly capture the on-street park and pay scheme including the incorporation of the extensive review already started by the administration.
"The review is expected to address perceived loopholes in the scheme," he said.
Meanwhile, the FCTA has absolved the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, of involvement in the award and execution of the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) project in Abuja.
The Special Assistant on Media to the minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, in a statement issued yesterday, said the CCTV contract was neither awarded nor executed by the FCTA.
Ogbuenyi condemned what he described as an unwarranted and misguided attack on Mohammed by the Executive Chairman of a self-styled Coalition against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), Debo Adeniran, over the $470million (N76billion) National Public Security Communications System Project in Abuja otherwise known as the CCTV Project.
The statement was a response to a story published in one of the dailies yesterday in which Adeniran was reported to have called for the prosecution of the FCT minister in connection with the Abuja CCTV contract.
“We regard that unguarded outburst by Adeniran as a shameful advertisement of ignorance not just on the part of the man himself but also the organisation that he purports to lead.
"While the FCTA has been doing a lot to enhance security of lives and property in the FCT and is ever ready to collaborate with any person, institution, ministry, commission or group committed to the same objective, the fact needs to be stressed that the Abuja CCTV project was never a baby of the FCTA by conception, execution or supervision," the minister's spokesman clarified.
Ogbuenyi therefore called on CACOL and its Executive Chairman, to render an unreserved apology to the FCT minister for wrongful accusation and defamation.
The statement was a response to a story published in one of the dailies yesterday in which Adeniran was reported to have called for the prosecution of the FCT minister in connection with the Abuja CCTV contract.
“We regard that unguarded outburst by Adeniran as a shameful advertisement of ignorance not just on the part of the man himself but also the organisation that he purports to lead.
"While the FCTA has been doing a lot to enhance security of lives and property in the FCT and is ever ready to collaborate with any person, institution, ministry, commission or group committed to the same objective, the fact needs to be stressed that the Abuja CCTV project was never a baby of the FCTA by conception, execution or supervision," the minister's spokesman clarified.
Ogbuenyi therefore called on CACOL and its Executive Chairman, to render an unreserved apology to the FCT minister for wrongful accusation and defamation.
He stated: “If those calling for FCT Minister’s prosecution on account of a CCTV contract that he neither originated nor executed are not comprehensive illiterates, they should have been able to at least carry out preliminary internet research on the project to ascertain those that awarded and executed the contract.”
The minister's aid advised CACOL and its leaders to henceforth endeavour to carry out proper investigation of issues before making public pronouncements on them in order to avoid ridiculing itself and embarrassing innocent persons and institutions.
He however, described the CCTV project as an important scheme in the estimation of the FCTA and enjoined those responsible for the installation, completion and operation of the vital security devices to do the needful thing to make them fully operational.
The minister's aid advised CACOL and its leaders to henceforth endeavour to carry out proper investigation of issues before making public pronouncements on them in order to avoid ridiculing itself and embarrassing innocent persons and institutions.
He however, described the CCTV project as an important scheme in the estimation of the FCTA and enjoined those responsible for the installation, completion and operation of the vital security devices to do the needful thing to make them fully operational.
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