As part of the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the creation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Civil Service Commission, and the withdrawal of the Federal Capital Administration (FCTA) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to pave the way for the overall development of the FCT.
Disclosing this during a press conference today, October 13, 2023, in Abuja, the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike said that the President has also given the approval for the establishment of the FCTA Secretariat for Women Affairs as well as the immediate implementation of the FCT Civil Service Commission (Establishment) Act 2018.
Speaking shortly after playing host to the State House Press Corps in his office, Barrister Wike explained that these developments were part of the ongoing efforts to restore hope in residents of the FCT. He praised the President for his courage and political will to do what others had shied away from.
He said the pulling of the FCTA out of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) became inevitable due to the high level of uncompleted projects littering the nation’s capital, with some going as far back as 2002.
According to the Director of Press (Office of the Honourable Minister), Anthony Ogunleye, in a statement, Barrister Wike declared that FCT will now begin to witness accelerated provision of infrastructure, following this development, adding that the move would allow FCTA to use its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the completion of key ongoing projects and the execution of more projects and invariably, the overall development of the FCT
“I said to Mr. President, if you want the FCT to really carry out your developmental projects, then they must come out of TSA because what is the essence of a single treasury? Plugging of leakages and all that? We are not a revenue-collecting agency for the Federal Government.
“The revenue comes to us then it goes to the Central Bank. Now, I need money to do projects. I can’t go to the Central Bank to say give us money. I can’t go to Commercial Bank. But how do you pay? I said to Mr. President that we must pull out… And Mr. President graciously agreed with us and approved that we should pull out of the Treasury Single Account.
“From next year, it will be project upon a project in FCT. What you saw in Port-Harcourt will be a small thing. What you will see in Abuja will be something else. For us, it is one of our happiest days and we have to thank Mr. President for this foresight”, stated the visibly elated Minister.
On the establishment of the FCT Civil Service Commission as stipulated in the Act, the Minister said, it would address the fears of career progression in the FCTA.
The Minister said, “I wrote a memo to Mr. President, in line with the renewed hope agenda, that the Civil Servants in the FCT are suffering; they’ve lost hope. There is no commitment because, at the end of the day, I can’t get to the apex of my career. We must implement the FCT Civil Service (Establishment) Act as passed by the National Assembly.
“I can tell you authoritatively that Mr. President has given approval for the establishment of a Civil Service Commission for the Federal Capital Territory.”
The Act allows civil servants in the FCTA to rise to the position of Permanent Secretaries which hitherto was not the case.
On the establishment of the Secretariat for Women Affairs, the Minister said no meaningful development could be achieved in today’s world without including women in governance.
“You must create a Secretariat that will take care of women, as what we have in other States as Commissioner of Women Affairs, to give them that inclusivity, and as I speak to you, Mr. President has also approved that we have a secretariat and Mandate Secretary for Women Affair”.
In her remark at the Press conference, the Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud said the President made these approvals due to the capacity and willingness he saw in the Honourable Minister, to execute the Renewed Hope Agenda. She expressed hope for a new FCT with the vision of Barrister Wike.
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