The Senate on Wednesday
dropped the controversial African First Ladies’ Peace Mission House project
when it passed the N259.65bn budget of the Federal Capital Territory for the
2013 fiscal year without approving the N4bn appropriated for it.
In February when the budget
proposal was brought to the National Assembly, it contained N4bn vote for the
construction of the mission house in Abuja, a development that attracted a lot
of criticisms from members of the public.
The Senate, during the
second reading of the bill, questioned the rationale of committing scarce
resources to prosecute a less important structure.
Civil rights groups and
political parties had also berated the Federal Capital Territory Administration
for budgeting N4bn for the construction of the building for a non-governmental
body headed by the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.
They had contended that
since the Federal Government had earlier declared the mission as a
non-governmental organisation, it would be inappropriate for the same
government to spend public funds on it.
Presenting the budget report
on Wednesday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi,
said, “It is worthy of note that the proposed appropriation for the
construction of building for the African First Ladies’ Peace Mission has been
distributed to meet pressing needs in the area of engineering and satellite
towns.”
A breakdown of the budget
showed that N48.03bn was approved for personnel matters; N49.5bn for overhead;
N97.54bn for recurrent expenditure; and N155.66bn as capital expenditure.
Adeyemi said the budget was
predicated on a projected revenue of N259.698bn with a fiscal surplus of
N645,666.
He also said that in
carrying out its oversight duties, the committee identified critical areas of
need for the development of the territory and to ensure improved standard of
living for its inhabitants.
“Therefore, the committee
jostled with the budget estimates, deploying funds to meet areas of critical
needs like roads, water, health, education and development of satellite towns
within the territory, city maintenance and cleaning, recreational facilities,
construction of rehabilitation centres, agriculture, transportation, security
services and rehabilitation of the ECOWAS Parliament Building,” he said.
After passing the budget,
the President of the Senate, David Mark, called on the committee to rise up to
its responsibility by discharging its oversight functions effectively.
He said the city was dilapidating
and receding in its development with traffic congestion and ill maintained
streets and gardens depicting the decay.
Mark said, “There is a lot
of traffic congestion. The streets are not being kept in very good condition;
the gardens and the lawns are not being maintained; I think there are a lot of
areas where the city has to work very well.
“This is where we have to
implore your oversight functions. It is our responsibility to ensure that
things work properly.”
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