2016 budget: FCTA proposes N149.056bn for capital projects

A whooping sum of N149,056,610,051 is to be injected for provision of developmental projects across Abuja, the nation’s capital city, in the 2016 fiscal year.

The amount represents 61.73 percent of the total sum of N241,467,231,031 proposed in the 2016 budget submitted by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to the Senate for further legislative action.

Muhammad Bello, FCT minister, who stated this during the defence of the 2016 FCT Statutory budget before the Senate Committee on FCT, said the personnel cost got N52,371,352,360, which also represented 21.69 percent of the total expenditure.

According to him, the overhead is the least with N40,039,268,620 out of the N241,467,231,031 which is 16.58 percent.

While saying that this year’s budget is a departure from the previous ones because of the importance his Administration attaches to infrastructural development of the entire Federal Capital Territory, the Minister disclosed that N2.4 billion has been set aside for debt servicing.

He assured that attention would mostly be given to on-going projects this fiscal year to fast track solid development of the Federal Capital Territory.

Bello further assured that the cleanliness of Abuja remains a top priority of his Administration and that was why there was a complete change of leadership at the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) which is now being assisted with an enforcement team of 200 security personnel drawn from the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps led by a retired Squadron Leader.

The Minister emphasised that significant activities would be noticed in that area because cleanliness has no alternative.