Reps Bemoan Zero Capital Budget For FCT Departments, Secretariats

The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Ancillary Matters has lamented the zero capital budget for various departments and mandate secretariats of the FCT Administration.

The committee‘s chairman, Hon. Fred Agbedi, expressed displeasure when he led members of the oversight panel to inspect the level of construction of the palaces of the traditional rulers of Wako and Pai, both in Kwali Area Council.

The lawmaker said the zero capital budget was inappropriate as these departments and secretariats offer direct service to the people and urged both ministers who superintend over the FCT to ensure that those units have their capital component of the budget.

This was as officials of the Kwali secretariat complained that the challenge of zero budget allocation was among the issues responsible for the state of the projects.

Deputy Director of Implementation, Planning and Monitoring (IPM) of the Kwali Area Council Secretariat, Jamil Sa’ad, said the projects‘ stalled status was due to the review and budgetary problems.

Agbedi expressed displeasure with the state of the two palaces, describing them as being as good as abandoned, saying there was a need to meet with the secretariat and the contractor to know what went wrong.

He urged the secretariat officials to furnish the committee with all relevant documents concerning both projects so lawmakers would know what is needed to address the situation.

“I think the project in Pai appears a little more impressive than the one in Wako, but the fact remains that these projects have been abandoned for quite a while.

And these are projects that are meant to house our traditional rulers. I think a lot more quick attention is required here.

“Let me also use this opportunity to add that in the course of our oversight, expecting that the budget of the FCT will soon be brought before the House of Representatives, before the National Assembly, it is proper and procedural that we do oversight on ongoing projects, projects that are halted in one way or the other.

“During our oversight session, we observed that capital content is not provided for in all the mandated secretariats, which, as far as this committee is concerned, is not the right approach.

“If you spend government money, you should be able to account for it. When these secretariats have capital overhead and personnel costs, they can account for the money.

“If you don‘t spend the money, then you may not be responsible for accounting for the money. And so I think we want to, as a committee, use this opportunity to request the  FCT leadership, the minister and the minister of state to ensure that the mandate secretaries have their capital content of the budget so that this committee will be able to go down to the details in asking for accountability.

“This is because once you spend government money, you must also account transparently for the money you expended. And if it is not reflected in the budget of the secretariats, then it will be difficult for you to call them to account for such money,“ Agbedi said.

For his part, the member representing the Gwagwalada/Kuje/Kwali/Abaji federal constituency of the FCT, Hon. Abdulrahman Ajiya, who is also a member of the committee, said the traditional rulers had complained about the challenge with their palaces.

He also expressed displeasure with the state of the projects and assured the committee that it would work to address them.

“We have seen the situation of the palace there, and we are not too happy with what we have seen because it‘s almost an abandoned project.

“The committee chairman did not shy away by expressing his dismay. Many questions were asked, and the committee instructed the FCT Area Council Secretariat to furnish the committee with some documents.

“Here we are in Pai. We can see that the level of work here is a bit better than Wako. Questions were raised: Why the disparity? Again, we asked the FCT Area Council Secretariat to furnish the committee with relevant information.

“However, this committee asked a pertinent question about when the project started. And we are told it was in 2020. And here we are today, 2025, and nothing has been done. And I think a question again was asked about the budgetary provision of this project, and to our dismay, we learned that nothing was appropriated for this project last year.

„If we are passionate about our traditional rulers’ comfort, I think this time around, we need to look into the budget that will be presented to ensure that amounts are appropriated for these projects. I want to assure the people of this community that as far as this committee is concerned, this committee is ready to see to the development and the well-being of the people of FCT,” he added.