President Bola Tinubu has withdrawn the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to enable it utilise its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for project development, making the FCT Minister more powerful in the process.
FCT Minister Barrister Nyesom Wike disclosed this to newsmen on Friday during press conference in Abuja. He said the President approved the proposal after he tabled it before him.
The TSA, a Federal Government policy that requires all government revenue to be deposited into a single account, was introduced in 2015 to improve transparency and accountability in government finances.
The minister also revealed that President Tinubu had also approved the creation of the FCT Civil Service Commission and a FCT Women Affairs Secretariat to be headed by a Mandate Secretary.
He said: “Central bank cannot give us loan, and even the IGR is spent as they come, which you cannot tangibly do anything with it.
“I said to Mr. President if you want FCT to really carry out its developmental projects and infrastructure, then it must come out of TSA. We (FCT Administration) are not a revenue-generating agency of the federal government, then what financial linkages are you blocking? The revenue comes in, and it will go to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“And we need money to do projects, I can’t go to the Central Bank to give us money, and can’t go to the commercial banks, they will ask how do you pay back? So, I said we must pull out, that’s the only way, we can survive it.
“Mr President graciously agreed with us and approved that we should pull out from the Single Treasury Account. You will see that from next year it will be projected upon projects in FCT, and what you saw in Port Harcourt, Abuja would be something else. So for us, it is one of the happiest days, and we have to thank Mr. President for foresight.”
Wike said the establishment of the FCT Service Commission will assuage the worries of FCT civil servants about career progression as no civil servant working for the FCTA could progress to become a Permanent Secretary. He said the creation of FCT Women Affairs Secretariat would be of help to women.
He said: “People will kick against it, but it is not personal, it is about the growth of the city, welfare of the civil servants and the interest of the women, our mothers, sisters and wives. For how many years this fight has been on, but in how many months, Mr. President has done it.
“One of the reasons that I accepted to work with Mr. President is because he has the capacity and political will to those things that people are afraid of doing. The problem of this country is leadership, so many people don’t want to take actions as they believe that some people will be angry. There is no action you take that everybody will be happy. But what is important is that you are guided by law and your conscience.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNEÂ
and then