Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has proposed N121.92 billion as capital expenditure, representing 52.35% of its N232. 87 billion statutory budget estimates for the 2020 fiscal year.
FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello who made this known at the presentation of the FCT’s 2020 statutory budget to the joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the FCT, said N53. 87 (23.15%) was proposed for personnel costs and N57. 07 (24.52%) as overhead costs.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Anthony Ogunleye, the proposal also indicated reductions in personnel and overhead costs, with N53. 87 proposed in the 2020 budget as against the N55. 54 in 2019, for personnel and N57. 07 as against N57. 61 in 2019, for overhead, representing a 2% and 0.93% decrease respectively.
“The sum of N121, 928,781,417.00 was proposed for capital expenditure in the 2020 budget, of which N11, 550,000,000.00 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 N40,282,958,388.00, the Satelite Town Development Agency, STDA, got N33,702,830,000.00 while other Secretariats Departments and Agencies, SDAs, got N47,942,993,029.00 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.
“On road infrastructure, the FCTA is proposing to spend the sum of N6,145, 915, 689.00 for the rehabilitation, expansion, extension and construction of 6 major roads which include the Outer Southern Expressway, Inner Southern Expressway amongst others.
“In the same vein, the sum of N33.7 billion has been earmarked for the provision of infrastructure in the satellite towns while resettlement and compensation is expected to gulp the sum of N3,4 billion.
“The transportation sector was allocated the sum of N14,889,210,813.00 out of which N9 billion is earmarked for the Abuja Light Rail project including the rolling stock and provisions for other phases.
“The sum of N37,446,803,606.00 was allocated to the education sector while the health sector has a proposed expenditure of N20,621,096,204.00. The environmental sector has N7,231,908,304.00 allocated to it while the water sector has N10,558,087,603.00. Agriculture has a total of N5,334,526,456,00”, the statement read.
It also said the FCT Minister ha informed members of the National Assembly that the FCT Statutory Budget is funded from 1% of the 52.68% Statutory Allocation of the Federal Government from the Federation Account, internally generated revenue and other sources as contained in the Revenue Fiscal Framework for the execution of recurrent and capital expenditure in the FCT.
Bello commended the lawmakers for their support for FCTA, while expressing the hope that with their legislative and moral support, the challenges facing the FCT will be addressed.
Recall that the House of Representatives last week passed the FCT 2020 Appropriations Bill for second reading with a vow to ensure it’s full passage before the end of this week in order to return the Federal Capital to the January-December budget cycle.
James Kwen, Abuja
