The FCT Administration has released the sum of N5,744,835,928.38 to various development partners being counterpart funds for the projects they are executing in the Federal Capital Territory.
The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye made this disclosure on Monday at an interactive session with the Information Officers under the FCT Administration at the FCDA Conference Room, Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary stated that some of these counterpart funds have not been paid for several years, which does not tell well of a reputable organization like the FCT Administration.
According to him, the FCT Administration has taken this step to redeem its obligations and image with these international development partners in tandem with the Change Agenda of the Federal Government
Dr. Ajakaiye revealed that the sum of N1,787,077,262.75 was released to the Universal Basic Education Board which has not been paid since 2013 and therefore the release includes all the arrears.
He reiterated that N50 million was also released for the FCT Community and Social Development Programme NYSC; stressing that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhmammad Musa Bello believes that the FCT Administration under is leadership must honour its commitments.
The Permanent Secretary remarked that out of this sum of over N5.7 billion, the sum of N46,513,666.000 has been released for the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) projects in the FCT; while the sum of N113,488,000 is for FCT FADAMA programme.
“The sums of N2,939,681,413.96 and N808,075,585.62 were released as counterpart funds for the Abuja Rail project as well as its Consultancy Services respectively,” he added.
Dr. Ajakaiye warned that nonchalant attitude must be stopped forthwith as Information Officers have a lot of role to play to inform and publicize to the residents on the day-to-day activities of the FCT Administration.
The Permanent Secretary challenged the Information Officers to make information strategy more robust; adding that the FCT Administration intends to introduce quarterly seminar for Information Officers in the Federal Capital Territory to make them perform their duties more effectively.
His words: “Information Officers must have knowledge of everything because they remain the first point of call. They must be well grounded about the workings of the civil service, the entire FCT Administration as well as the primary area of assignments.”
While calling on the Information Officers to make sacrifice, he enjoined them to package annual publicity programme or strategy in order to take the FCTA to the next level.
Responding, the Acting Director of Information and Communications, Mrs. Stella Ojeme thanked the Permanent Secretary for the innovation; saying it’s the first of its kind in the history of the FCT Administration.
She assured that in a very short period, the management of the FCT Administration would see drastic change in the performance of the Information Officers, says a statement by Muhammad Hazat Sule, Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary,
