Wike’s aide responds to ex-minister Dalung’s remarks on FCT roads

Lere Olayinka, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, has briefed Solomon Dalung, the former Minister of Youths and Sports, on road building in the nation’s capital.

In a statement released Friday, Olayinka questioned how Dalung’s wish to promote his distaste for Wike and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration could wipe reality out of his mind, leading him to declare on live television that “road projects in the FCT do not translate to development because such projects do not touch the general wellbeing of the people.”

Since many Nigerians lack cars, Dalung, whose time as Minister of Youth and Sports was utterly terrible, even went so far as to argue that dualization or road construction cannot be highlighted as development, according to Olayinka.

Roads are only helpful to Nigerians who own cars, according to someone who saw Nigeria’s repeated failures to qualify for the Nations Cup. How naive the thinking is!

“It is odd that in the perspective of a former minister, when projects like the construction of the Saburi–Dei Dei road, the 5km Dutse-Usuma Dam road, the War College/Army Checkpoint and other ancillary roads within the Bwari Area Council, the 25km Kwaita/Yebu road in Kwali Area Council, the 11km Yangoji-Sukuku-Ebo road in Kwali Area Council, and the 9km Paikon Kore/Ibwa road are finished, they won’t result in any development,” the FCT Minister’s spokesperson said.

Additionally, only Nigerians with cars are permitted to utilize the 11km Kuje Road and the 11km Aguma Palace – Radio Nigeria – New Market Road in the Gwagwalada Area Council; those without cars will not.

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“Among other things, the FCT Minister officially opened the building of a 12-kilometer Kabusa-Ketti road, a 7-kilometer Kabusa-Takushara road, and a 15-kilometer road connecting Pia in Kwali Area Council to the A2 Junction Abuja-Lokoja road in December 2024.

“Dalung also believes that the roads being built in satellite towns like Kabusa, Ketti, Takushara, and the Lokoja route connecting Pia will not have a single developmental function once they are finished.

However, given that his primary trademark has continued to spew out of outlandish remarks, one is not shocked.

When the Super Falcons’ allowances were delayed during their participation in the 2016 African Women Championship in Ghana, for example, he instructed reporters, “Remember that no one even knew the team (Super Falcons) would win.” The federation would have only planned for the participation and entitlement process if we were certain they would win.

Additionally, when Dalung’s Sports Ministry did not deliver funds for the soccer squad to train for the Rio 2016 Olympics, he asked reporters, “Who took them there? Why are they there? since they traveled to the US and are under 23. Does it become our concern that they are now experiencing issues?

“Therefore, the fact that such a character can speak and say anything, no matter how absurd, does not bother one.”