The leadership and members of the National Assembly have lauded what the called exceptional performance of Mr. Nyesom Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The lawmakers gave the commendation when Wike appeared before them to defend the N1.78 trillion FCT Statutory Budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year.
The chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Ibrahim Bomai, particularly commended Wike for the wonderful performance in just a short time as FCT minister along with the FCT Minister of State, Dr Mariya Mahmoud.
Bomai also said he was impressed with the FCT’s 2025 revenue and fiscal framework, saying, “this is the first time FCT is proposing to generate about N1.7 trillion.
“What FCT has presented is one of the best budgets so far.
“Also, the N608 billion projected Internally Generated Revenue for 2025 also shows a significant improvement.”
Also, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), commended the minister for the comprehensive turnaround of Abuja as Nigeria’s capital city.
Ningi, who equates the current status of the FCT with Johannesburg and Cairo, however, urged the minister to do more in improving the security in the Territory.
Similarly, Senator Mohammed Ndume (APC, Borno South) said: “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 to succeed.
On his part, Senator Osita Ozunaso (APC, Imo West), said that the FCT budget performance was commendable, particularly the reduction in personnel cost to allocate more funds to capital projects.
“Whenever we are sitting on budgets, 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 2024.
“Secondly, you have more capital expenditure than recurrent. This is commendable,” Ozunaso said.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) described Wike as one of the best ministers under the APC administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Oshiomhole noted that too much money was being spent on overhead with very little available for infrastructure, saying: “what Wike has done is worth noting and commendation”.
He also commended the FCT minister for implementing specific programmes to bring life to rural communities of FCT.
This, he said, was the most potent statement to decongest the city, by taking development to the people where they live.
Also, Senator Ireti Kingibe (LP, FCT), who had been very critical of Wike’s leadership style, also commended the minister for the visible performance, which she said was undisputable.
Earlier, at the House of Representative, the chairman of the Committee on FCT, Hon. Muktar Betara, commended Wike for the ongoing transformation of the nation’s capital.
Other lawmakers took turns to applaud the exemplary performance and dedication of the FCT minister to deliver the dividends of democracy to FCT residents in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of President Tinubu.
Earlier, Wike appealed to the lawmakers to approve the N1.78 trillion FCT Statutory Budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year.
He explained that out of the N1.78 trillion, N1.28 trillion was earmarked for capital projects, representing 72.3 per cent, while N494.1 billion was set aside for recurrent expenditure, representing 27.7 per cent.
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