FCTA Approves N8.4bn For Waste Management, Security Gadgets, Flood Relief

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved contracts totalling over N8.4 billion for essential services, including waste management, security equipment, and support for flood victims.

The decisions were taken during the 18th Executive Committee (EXCO) meeting, which was chaired by the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, after which briefings were held with the press.

The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) coordinator, Felix Obuah who briefed journalists on the outcomes, announced the ratification of two key memos.

The first, he explained, was a significant investment in the territory’s sanitation infrastructure.

“In today’s EXCO, we did present and seek the ratification of two memos that were gracely approved by the EXCO.

“The first memo was the memo seeking the approval and ratification of contract for the provision of waste collection and management services in four delineated districts of the Federal Capital City and the supply of AGO diesel to Wupa Basic Waste Treatment Plant, for the period of two years. The total figure for the award of these four contracts amounted to 7.3 billion Naira,” he said.

He added that the second memo, which also received the committee’s gracious approval, was “seeking for ratification and award of contract for the procurement of food and non-food items to support flood-affected persons in FCT.”

In a significant move to bolster the capital’s security architecture, the EXCO also approved the procurement of communication gadgets for the FCT Security Agency.

Musa Idris Onsachi, the Director of FCT Procurement, provided details of this approval, linking it directly to a directive from the FCT Minister.

“In today’s EXCO meeting, the EXCO have approved and ratified award of contract for the emergency procurement of communication gadgets and other equipment for FCT Security Agency in the sum of 1,133,802,500 Naira only,” Mr. Onsachi announced.

He stressed the necessity of the project, explaining, “The essence of this project is to support the FCT Security Agency in carrying out their assignment within the territory.

“The equipment are meant to support them because when His Excellency, the FCT Minister came on board, he discovered that there was a gap of the equipment of what he met. Now, with the support of these gadgets, the FCT Security Agency were able to do their work diligently.”

Meanwhile, the Director of Land Administration, FCTA, Chijoke Nwankwoeze assured residents that the days of waiting for years for a Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) are over, provided applicants meet their own obligations. He used the briefing to clarify common reasons for delays.

“As we are aware, certificates of occupancy issuance to property owners in Abuja have greatly improved in terms of the time it takes to get that produced and released.

“Gone are the days when you pay for C-of-O, you wait years, in some cases decades, to have your certificate produced and issued to you,” he said.

He praised the minister’s efficiency, noting, “Now, whether it was an old grant or recent grants made by the Minister, as long as you pay your certificate of occupancy bill, you could have your C-of-O within a time period as short as one week, the Minister does not waste time in signing C-of-Os. Once we send those C-of-Os to him, within a day or two, they are back.

“Some people may pay, it will take a week, two weeks, one month, and they will be asking, what are the reasons why my C-of-O is not being produced? There are a number of reasons,” he said.

He outlined the most common pitfalls, including the failure to submit a passport photograph and, most critically, the non-return of the letter of acceptance.

“At the point of opening a file, you are expected to submit your passport photograph. Those photographs are embossed on the C-of-O. So if you did not submit them, you will be unable to produce the C-of-O

“Another reason is, when an offer of statutory right of occupancy is made to you, it remains an offer and there won’t be any contract until you accept. Without letter of acceptance, we cannot proceed to prepare C-of-O. So it’s important that the public knows that submission of letter of acceptance is fundamental,” he said.

He also warned against confusing an invoice with proof of payment. “Some people don’t know that generation of remita number is not payment. You could generate remita invoice, but if the payment has not been made, it will not drop. Invoice is not the same thing as receipt.”

Responding to a question on the planned enforcement against properties illegally converted from residential to commercial use, the Land Director issued a strong warning to defaulters.

“With respect to land use contraventions there have been some compliance. It’s not total yet. There are still people who are still in contravention.

“Of course, the administration will do its enforcement on those properties and that could include stealing of the properties, revocation of the titles, and anything else. I know that any moment from now, the administration will begin to carry out its enforcement actions on those properties,” he said.

He stated that the administration has been lenient, giving property owners ample time to regularize their status by making the required payments.

He appealed to all property owners to pay their ground rents and other charges, emphasizing that these funds are vital for the city’s upkeep.

“These monies are used to provide infrastructure and maintain the city that we are all proud of. Without these monies, where do you expect the government to get the money with which to manage the city, to build all the roads you are seeing, all the bridges, all the massive infrastructure development going on in Abuja?” he asked.