Members of the 10th National Assembly mainly Senators yesterday lauded the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike for a fiscal framework of the sum of N1,783,823,708,392.00 comprising Distributable Revenue of N1,392,573,937,087.00 and Non-Distributable Revenue of N391,249,771,305.00 proposed for the FCT 2025 Statutory Budget.
They gave the commendation when Wike appeared separately before the FCT committees of both the House of Representatives and Senate during the presentation of the 2025 budget proposal.
Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Ibrahim Bomai, noted that it is the first time FCT is proposing to generate about N 1.7 trillion, with 1.3 trillion as distributable revenue generated from the services of the FCT, while N391 billion from loans and counterpart funding.
Bomai said: “This is the first time FCT is generating this type of money. And as I said earlier, out of the whole amount, about 84% of it is going to capital.
“And out of the 84%, substantially, almost 75% is going for completion of ongoing projects. There is no doubt this is a very good achievement. And considering the fact that budgets from other organizations, you discover that the capital is almost 50% and overhead just another 50%.
“What FCT is presenting is one of the best budgets so far. And before I allow the floor for questions, I would like also to note that the IGR proposed by FCT has greatly improved. The FCT is proposing N608 billion just IGR.
“So, this is something to commend the Honorable Minister of State and his staff for doing a wonderful job.”
Similarly, another member of the Nigerian Senate, Adams Oshiomhole, declared that Wike as one of the best ministers under the APC administration.
Oshiomhole noted that too much money was being spent on overhead with very little available for infrastructure, “what Wike has done is worth noting and commendation.”
He also hailed the FCT minister for implementing specific programmes to bring life to rural communities in FCT.
This, according to him, was the most potent statement to decongest the city, by taking development to the people where they live.
On his part, Sen. Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central, PDP), also commended the minister for the comprehensive turnaround of Abuja as the Nigeria’s capital city.
Ningi, who described the current status of the FCT with Johannesburg and Cairo, however urged Wike to do more in improving the security in the territory.
For Sen. Mohammed Ndume (Borno South APC): “Everybody that knows where Abuja was two years ago and what it is now, knows that you have done well.
“Even yesterday my friend told me that Wike is doing fine and I said no, it is the Senate that is doing fine because without approving his budget, he cannot do anything.”
Ndume pledged the continued support of the Senate to enable him succeed.
Not left out, Sen. Osita Ozunaso (Imo West, APC) noted that the FCT budget performance was commendable, particularly the reduction in personnel cost to allocate more funds to capital projects.
“Whenever we are doing budget, people come here and they increase the personnel cost, but you have reduced the personnel cost in the 2025 proposed budget by N21 billion from the amount allocated in the 2024.
“Secondly, you have more capital expenditure than recurrent. This is commendable,” he stated.
Earlier, Wike explained that FCT 2025 Statutory Budget preparation aligned with the Federal Government Budget parameters.
He added that the budget is accordingly prepared within the context of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the Medium-Term Development Plan
(MTDP) and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), saying that the Budget also took into consideration the Federal Government’s assumptions for the 2025.
According to him, the focus of the capital budget is mainly on completion of on-going projects that have high impact on service delivery.
“It is my conviction that with your legislative and moral support, the development of our unity city to its envisaged status of a modern city comparable to any in the world will be achieved”, Wike assured the lawmakers.
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