By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
ABUJA:The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator-elect, Kingibe Ireti Heebah has disclosed her plans as she goes into the 10th National Assembly to represent the people of the FCT.
Kingibe, who defeated Senator Philip Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party, who has served in the Senate since 2011, spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the Presentation of the Certificate of Return to Senators-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
She explained that her major plan is to achieve prosperity for all in the FCT, adding that she can only achieve that by ensuring the availability of water, good roads, housing, women, youth and People with Disability (PWD) inclusion and also ensuring that the indigenous people of the FCT are not left out.
>>>>See exercepts of the interview below<<<<<
What should the people of the FCT expect from you?
Some of the things you should expect differently, for one thing, I’ll be accessible, I will have a constituency office. Therefore, you will be able to reach me if you need me. Secondly, the FCT needs a lot of work, we have some security challenges which needs to be looked into.
The Senator is supposed to work closely with the Minister of the FCT—the Senator being the representative of the people. Now, some of the challenges we have in the FCT, we have no water and there’s no reason why not. Lower Usuma dam and Jabi lake were created to give FCT water, but it won’t fly from the lake to our homes. The necessary infrastructure needs to be put in place and most of FCT can have clean water. So there’s some places I’ve been to, they do not eat because there’s no water to cook the food, those things must stop!
Secondly, even if it’s just graders for some of the roads that will make them just halfway passable, that needs to be done. I’m not talking about big things, I’m talking of little things. It’s not like you can’t afford those.
Now housing, there’s a lot of land, we need to look at why everybody is struggling for a place to live. So those are some of the things. Then, let’s now get to the bills and policies, FCT is supposed to be treated like a State.. It’s not a State, but if certain policies are put in place, we can access all the things that other States do. Now, those policies have to be written and passed; those are some of the things you can expect differently.
Thirdly, women and youth are a huge percentage of our population,I expect their needs to be examined closely, looked into, implemented and attended to. If we do that, peace will reign in the FCT. Prosperity for all is what I hope that we can achieve.
As Nigeria celebrates International Women’s Day, What do you think can be done to get more Women involved in STEM?
As women, we need to work much much harder. We need to become a bloc to be reckoned with, and until we do that, we can’t expect to be given anything. We have to be able to take it and the way to take it is by making sure that we can be reckoned with and that I will work hard. I’m now the leader of the labor party in the FCT, I will ensure that when the next elections and Congresses come around, you will see a lot more women in them than they ever was.
Will you be looking at the issues of People With Disability?
Yes, it is one of my programs and Disability Act that has been passed, I intend to look into how it can be implemented in all of the public buildings in the Federal Capital Territory.
What do you think is the implication of having few women in the Senate?
The other time, there were some, a little more than now and they still couldn’t make an impact because we need a critical mass for some of the things that we need to do. But that not withstanding, the few of us that are there, we are not going there for decoration, we are going to work even harder than the men and you will feel our impact.
What will you do to ensure that Indigenous People of the FCT are adequately Represented?
What does adequate representation mean? Almost every Chairman in the FCT is an indigene, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who represents you, it’s who works for you that matters. The senator of the FCT is an indigene; he’s been there for 20 years, and if they’re not adequately represented its because of the caliber of people they take there, not the tribe that matters.
A time must come in this country when your tribe does not matter but your character. What you can bring and your capacity, that’s what should count. And now, I have lived here from 1988 to now, I am not indigenous-born but I know this place as well as any other and they will see a difference and know that it’s not the tribe of who represents you that matters, but the what the person is bringing to the table, the capacity,and what the person is willing to do, that’s what matters most.
And when Nigerians move away from tribe and religion to capacity, then we would have arrived to be the nation that we should be.
