The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Bala Mohammed, has appealed to the House of Representatives to approve the proposal by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to establish the federal capital revenue board in order to enable his administration check leakages from revenue generation and remittance.
Addressing the House Committee on FCT yesterday, the minister said that giving legislative nod to the board will help the FCTA attain a high level of independence from the federal government for funding of its activities.
He also added that it would also make the system to be in tandem with what is obtainable in states where state revenue boards are in charge of keeping records of internally generated revenue (IGR) and other information.
?“The idea of establishing the FCT revenue board is to raise IGR and plug loopholes where there are leakages. We cannot continue to rely too much on the federal government,” Mohammed said.
The minister added that the rift between the FCTA and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will also be laid to rest when such a board is created.
, stating that, “We are not against FIRS, we don’t want to join issues with them on pages of newspapers, we have sought legal advice and the Senate has moved in and asked us to go ahead with the board, but we want to have the input of the House Committee before we start.”
Briefing the committee on issues around the FCT, he said that the process for the restructuring of the administrative structure of the FCTA was in full gear, stating that the exercise which will also align the structure of the FCTA with that of states, will create proper institutions, put an end to administrative problems, improve land administration and provide permanent status for most of the offices which are ad-hoc in nature.
When asked by the lawmakers of the motives behind the exorbitant rates charged for services at Karu General Hospital, which they said they has received several petitions, Sen. Bala said it was because the hospital was being run by Indian investors who brought in expensive equipment but was quick to add that the section of the hospital that will be affordable to the masses was yet to be completed.
He said that the contract for the public side had been revoked after the contractor failed to meet up with the timeline for completion of the project.
The minister while answering questions relating to refusal by his office to sign backlog of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), said that there was no such thing? as all C of Os for which premium has been paid have been signed by him, giving the number be about 25,000.
He also informed the committee that the authority was inundated with about 1000 cases in court over double and in some cases, quadruple allocation of same land to people.
Earlier in his opening remarks, chairman of the committee, Hon Emmanuel Jime, said that the committee was setting an agenda with a view to having a roadmap for carrying out its oversight activities, adding that henceforth, focus will be on ensuring that the needs of the people are reflected in the budget of the FCT.