FCT Residents Charge Minister On Budget Implementation

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Grassroots Advocacy Project (AGAP) have called on the minister of FCT, Mallam Mohammad Musa Bello, to ensure strict implementation of the recently passed budget and ensure that residents of the FCT benefit from its implementation.

The chief advocate of the organisation, Comrade Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, in a press briefing yesterday commended the National Assembly through the Smart Adeyemi-led Senate Committee on FCT, the senator representing the FCT, Phillip Aduda, the minister of FCT and minister of state for their efforts in making sure that the budget was passed despite the delay.

Yusuf cautioned that the budget should not be a recurrence circumstance whereby the delay in the passage which has been experienced on two occasions would affect the implementation, which has made money to be returned to the national treasury by the minister.

“This time around we want the minister of FCT to ensure strict adherence to the implementation of the budget. Because we want to believe that the civil servants who are going to be giving this budget for implementation will not abuse their officers.

“They should ensure that the money is used for what the budget is meant for and that the implementation process is strictly adhered to. Because we have a very short time and the budget is coming almost at the end of the year.

“We are also calling on all the contractors that would be paid for projects from this budget to ensure that they complete the projects they have not completed. We want Nigerians to know that we are strictly monitoring the implementation of the budget because we have a copy of it.

“We will not hesitate to expose any loophole or fraudulent behaviour by anybody, either the appointees or the civil servants who would be given various responsibilities. We want to ensure that the people of FCT are enjoying the dividends of good governance,” he said.

Yusuf further said that the advice is serious because all the civil societies organisations in the FCT are involved in it and have become watchdogs in their various area councils, saying that they are going to make sure they follow the budget according to the information made available to them.