By Ignatius Okorocha and Daniel Tyokua
The Senate committee on the Federal Capital Territory, has asked the Minister of the FCT, Muhammad Bello, to do more on generating revenue to support the annual budgetary allocation.
Chairman Senate Committee on FCT, Abubakar Kyari, alongside members of the committee during the budget presentation on Tuesday, by the Minister, urged him to initiate additional areas of boosting revenue generation.
Breakdown of the N299, 963, 491,522.46 FCT 2021 Statutory budget proposal shows that total recurrent expenditure is ₦136,312,350,743.21 while capital expenditure is ₦163,651,140,779.25 respectively.
The sum of N74,523,382,813.15 was proposed as Personnel Costs ,while
Overhead Costs was put ats ₦61,788,967,930.06
Bello said, “₦136,312,350,743.21 representing 54.56% is proposed as capital expenditure for the year 2021, which is for the development of infrastructure with emphasis on completion of ongoing projects.
“Out of the proposed capital expenditure, the sum of ₦78,793,795,841.000 is dedicated to the completion of the ongoing Abuja Light Rail projects and other counterpart fund related projects aimed at enhancing socio economic activities of the FCT”
Similarly, the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is allocated the sum of ₦26.7 billion and Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) the sum of ₦17.7 billion.
The budget proposal revealed that Secretariats, Departments and Agencies are allocated the cumulative sum of ₦40,903,488,220.00 for their capital expenditure in order to address critical critical areas like ongoing road construction, water treatment plan and related facilities, but with new projects.
Presenting the budget estimates to the Senate, Bello revealed that the 2021 budget preparation aligned with the federal government budget parameters, as well as took into consideration assumptions for the 2021 national budget.
Bello added that the budget proposal has also taken into account the estimated revenue accruing to the FCT through the federation account and recognises other in-house efforts to boost revenue generation capacities in FCT.
He explained that the focus of the capital budget is mainly on completion of ongoing projects that have high impact on service delivery to the FCT residents.
He disclosed that a fiscal framework of the sum of ₦299,963,491,522.46 comprising distributable revenue of N215,951,023,735.00 and non-distributable revenue of ₦84,012,467,787.46 have been proposed for the FCT 2021 statutory budget after due consultations with all revenue generating agencies of the FCTA.
According to him, there is an increase of the sum of ₦100,722,960,173.00 (34%) in the 2021 budget proposal, when compared with the revised 2020 appropriation of the sum of ₦199,240,531,350.00.
Furthermore, the Minister revealed that the sum of ₦7.5 billion is earmarked for the expansion and rehabilitation of seven major roads in 2021, in order to speed up their completion before the end of the fiscal year.
He added that the sum of ₦17.7 billion is proposed for infrastructural development in the Satellite Towns, of which the key projects are; engineering infrastructure to Kubwa, Bwari, Karshi, Wasa and extension of Karshi-Apo Road.
While thanking the committee for the opportunity provided to the FCT Administration to defend its 2021 statutory budget proposal, Bello expressed conviction that with legislative and moral support, the development of the nation’s capital city to its envisaged status of a modern city comparable to any in the world will be achieved.
In his remarks, Chairman Senate committee on FCT, Abubakar Kyari, said the committee will ensure the full implementation of the budget through its oversight functions to ensure effective service delivery to the residents of the FCT.
He however reiterated that the FCT Minister should ensure that budget proposal should henceforth be presented on or before September of the preceding year, for proper and efficient delibration and implementation.
Some of the critical projects to be executed by the FCT Administration in the 2021 statutory budget proposal are; rehabilitation and expansion of outer southern expressway, expansion and extension of inner southern expressway, construction of southern Parkway from Christian Centre, B6 B12, Reconstruction of and dualisation of Lower Usuma Dam-Gurara Road, construction of access roads for Abuja Light Rail stations and resurfacing of existing roads.
Sectorial highlights of the FCT 2021 statutory budget proposal show that while transportation sector has a provision of ₦83,444,323,037.00 as capital budget for year 2021, FCT education sector has a budgetary proposal of the sum of ₦42,789,238,146.00.
Similarly, the FCT health sector has a proposal of the sum of ₦26,410,117,719.00, out of which the sum of ₦23,815,435,005.00 is for recurrent expenditure, which includes the sum of ₦1.3 billion for drug revolving fund and the sum of ₦1.2 billion for expenses on COVID-19 while the sum of ₦2,594,682,714.00 is for capital expenditure.
The environmental sector has a proposal of the sum of ₦5,916,313,777,00 while the sum of ₦5,910,859,488.00 is proposed for water sector.
On the other hand, the sum of ₦8,376,687,200.00 is proposed for FCT Agric and Rural Development Sector, whereas the sum of ₦6,601,276,065.00 is earmarked for the social development sector.
Meanwhile, the Legal Services Secretariat has a proposal of the sum of ₦1,264,838,146.00, the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) has the sum of ₦1,466,841,123.00 as its proposal in the 2021 Statutory Budget; with the sum of ₦4,188,127,223.00 proposed for Area Council Services Secretariat (ACSS) and it’s departments.
The FCT Statutory Budget is funded from a combination of 1% of the 52.68% statutory allocation of the federal government from the federation account, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) efforts and other sources as contained in the Revenue Fiscal framework, for the execution of recurrent and capital expenditure in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
