We will make Abuja world greenest city —FCT Minister

THE Federal Capital Territory Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has reiterated the commitment of his administration to make Abuja, one of the greenest cities in the world and among the best in the ease of doing business.

He made the pledge when he received the delegation of Abuja Business Forum (ABF) led by Mr Tunde Imolehin, who were on courtesy visit to him  in Abuja.

Accordingly, Bello said the FCT Administration (FCTA), would partner with ABF to adopt a standard model for gardens and green parks to enhance the quality of business and leisure facilities in the FCT.

He promised to support the Forum particularly on the ‘change gardens’ concept because there were a lot of gardens and locations within the Federal Capital City.

He said: “We really like to make it serve as a real model of what a garden should be and we will like to partner very closely with you in this respect you can be rest assured that is something we are going to do.”

The Minister said further that one of the cardinal objectives and policies of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was to be able to make the Nigeria business environment more friendly.

He said: “You know when this administration came in, the position of Nigeria on the world ranking index on the ease of doing business was at a certain level that really was not very reflective of our potentials as a nation and this administration, through the Minister of Trade and Investment, has tried to up the scale and to move us to at least by 20-points on that index and we are getting there.

“We have keyed into this concept and that is why Abuja business forum is something that makes a lot of sense to us because it fits into our policy. We will work with you and see that it’s a reality.” Speaking further, Bello tasked the “Abuja Business Forum to encourage investors to invest in mass housing in the city.

“For investors, I think part of what you will discuss during the forum is to let them know that there is housing deficit in respect of lower income earner and middle income accommodation,” he said.

Imolehin, in his remark, said that the vision of ABF was to put Abuja on the world map where it could compete favorably with any city in the world in terms of ease of doing business, adding that the aim  was to create a mega city that could compete favorably with any city in the world in terms of the ease of doing business.

Imolehin who is the Founder of Change Vision Nigeria, spoke on the various components of the projects targeted at improving the quality of business and economy of FCT and Nigeria in general.

He said: “The change parks excite me most when change meets green. We are going to make sure that charity begins at home.