Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has ordered the Department of Development Control to start demolishing buildings that are blocking roads in the Kugbo International Market. The order was given during a tour of the market for inspection. The market is being built in the Central Business District and is planned to house the new Ministry of Livestock Development. The market is an initiative of the Abuja Investment Company, Mesotho Group Limited, and AICL in a public-private cooperation. Wike urged the Department of Development Control to promptly destroy any structures that provide a barrier and stressed the significance of promoting such an investment. In order to guarantee the project's completion, he also pleaded with the Mesotho Group to increase its funding. The minister encouraged the investor to continue investing until January, pointing out that the market's initial phase is already complete. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, the minister also talked about the potential acquisition of stores for underprivileged traders and business owners. According to him, the government would exert all of its efforts to assist citizens and make sure they enter the market's first phase as soon as feasible. According to Wike, the Kugbo International Market will boost the FCT's economy and give locals job possibilities. He continued by saying that by requiring vendors to vacate the sides of the road and do business inside the market, the market will help with efforts to decongest the roads. He highlighted that the expense of the stores should not be the cause for traders to sell on the highways. The Abuja Investment Company is willing to put up their own capital in guaranteeing resource distribution in order to collaborate with investors to establish a consensus. Read the full article

FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has denied any apology for threatening "fire" in governor states that interfere in the Rivers State crisis. Wike and Rivers State Governor Sim Fubara have differed sharply on issues pertaining to the state's political system and authority. The PDP governors forum had supported Fubara in opposition to the minister during the ongoing dispute. Wike had vowed to set fire to the state of any governor who meddled in the political unrest in Rivers State, furious at their statement and stance. But when Wike appeared on Channels TV Politics Today, he stated: “I said it to the governors forum and I repeat without any apologies to anybody anywhere. Heaven will never fall, in fact; if heaven falls there will be peace. “You mean as I sit as FCT Minister from Rivers State, the only person I can say I have no relationship with is the governor of Zamfara, I don’t know him; if I see him now I won’t know him. “I know all other governors and they know me and we have a relationship. You mean you want to violate the processes and constitution of our party. “After your meeting, you came out on national television as chairman of the forum to read a communique that their brother in Rivers state – whether legal or not – and I’m sitting as FCT Minister from that state listening, and you expect me to fold my arms because you are a governor? “You look at me and tell me that? Expecting me to fold my hand for everything to be well?” Read the full article

The FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello has said that the administration is putting in place strategies to improve public transportation situation in the capital city. This assurance comes in the heels of the recent restriction of commercial tricycle operators to certain parts of the city. He said that the FCTA is not unmindful of the challenges commuters face as a result of the policy. The Chief Press Secretary to the minister, Anthony Ogunleye, in a statement said Bello disclosed this during the presentation of the FCT’s 2020 statutory budget to the joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the FCT. According to Bello, most roads within the Federal Capital City, were expressways and thus could not accommodate the presence of the commercial tricycles and motorcycles. Bello said that the FCTA was working closely with the commercial tricycle association to explore the possibility of upgrading their operations to taxi cabs. On the 2020 FCT statutory budget, the minister said the FCT was proposing to spend N233 billion (N232,875,365,947). “This sum is made up of N53,876,241,095 (23.15 per cent) as personnel cost, N57,070,343,435 (24.50 per cent) as overhead costs and a proposed capital expenditure of N121,928,781,417 (52.35 per cent). “The proposal also indicated reductions in personnel and overhead costs, with N53,876,241,095 proposed in the 2020 budget as against the N55,543,090,041 in 2019 for personnel and N57,070,343,435 as against N57,610,188,661 in 2019 for overhead. “These figures represent a 2 per cent and 0.93 per cent decrease respectively. “The sum of N121,928,781,417 was proposed for capital expenditure in the 2020 budget, of which N11,550,000,000 is dedicated to the completion of the light rail project and other counterpart funded related projects aimed at enhancing socioeconomic activities in the FCT. “Of the amount also, the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA got N40,282,958,388, the Satelite Town Development Agency, STDA, got N33,702,830,000. “While other Secretariats Departments and Agencies, SDAs, got N47,942,993,029 for their capital expenditure to address critical areas like ongoing road construction, water treatment plants and related facilities as well as a few new projects.” Bello disclosed that the FCTA was proposing to spend the sum of N6,145,915,689 for the rehabilitation, expansion, extension and construction of six major roads which include the Outer Southern Expressway, Inner Southern Expressway among others. He also revealed that the sum of N33.7 billion had been earmarked for the provision of infrastructure in the satellite towns while resettlement and compensation was expected to gulp the sum of N3.4 billion. Similarly, Bello said the transportation sector was allocated the sum of N14,889,210,813 out of which N9 billion was earmarked for the Abuja Light Rail project including the rolling stock and provisions for other phases. He also said the sum of N37,446,803,606 was allocated to the education sector, while the health sector had a proposed expenditure of N20,621,096,204. According to him, the environmental sector has N7,231,908,304 allocated to it, while the water sector has N10,558,087,603 and agriculture has a total of N5,334,526,456. The minister during the budget presentation informed members of the National Assembly that the FCT Statutory Budget was funded from 1 per cent of the 52.68 per cent Statutory Allocation of the Federal Government from the Federation Account. Bello also said that the FCT budget was also funded by the internally generated revenue and other sources as contained in the Revenue Fiscal Framework for the execution of recurrent and capital expenditure in the territory. He commended the lawmakers for their support for FCTA and expressed hope that with their legislative and moral support, the challenges facing the FCT would be addressed. The Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Abubakar Kyari, said the meeting was to deliberate with top management of the FCTA on the provisions in the FCT 2020 statutory appropriation bill and to assess the performance of the FCT 2019 statutory budget. This, he said, would guide the committee in making provisions and for the quick passage of the 2020 budget. The FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, said that the restriction placed on commercial tricycle operators to certain parts of the city was one of the most difficult decisions that the FCT administration had to make. The minister said that the decision was imperative because commercial tricycles by law should not operate on the express and highways along with vehicles as they pose dangers to both passengers and riders. Read the full article

accuses Gov of peddling falsehood:Perhaps, Yuguda is referring2 another aide of his. & I http://bit.ly/etqwiX