In order to exterminate rodents and minimize any possibility of Lassa fever in the Federal Capital Territory, the FCT Administration has concluded plans to fumigate the entire Territory.
The FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello made this disclosure on Friday through his media team during an interactive session with members of the FCT Press Corps in Abuja.
Bello said that the action would go along way in improving the environment and reduce the incidences of avoidable diseases.
He revealed that FCT Administration has recently cleared outstanding debt of over N250 million owed the cleaning and security contractors working in the FCT District and General Hospitals; adding that the debt cleared was for services provided for up to December 2015.
According to him, the Administration has equally extended the services of those contractors to December 2016 to allow for effective room to plan for new engagement as from 2017 fiscal year.
On Avian Influenza, he revealed that the FCT Administration has been able to stamp out the bird flu as no new case has been reported since 9th February 2016.
The Minister announced that the FCT Administration would give bailout to the troubled FCT Area Councils to pay for two months salary arrears, while the Area Councils have been mandated to look inward and immediately clear the remaining one-month for equity.
Bello however remarked that the National Assembly would have to approve the virement to accommodate such request first since FCT Administration has no provision for Area Councils’ staff salaries.
He restated that the FCT Administration has structured the repayment plan for the bailout to be from the 10% statutory payment to the Area Councils from the FCTA’s Internally Generated Revenue.
To ensure that these funds were judiciously spent, the FCT Administration would constitute a panel to conduct Personnel Audit of the Local Education Authority because about 90% of allocation from the federation account to the FCT Area Councils goes to the Primary Schools, he added.
The Minister further announced that the FCT Administration has also put machinery in motion to look into the budgetary system of the FCT Area Councils; noting that the way they are designed is the beginning of the problem at the local level.
