The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, pleaded with the Senate on Monday to approve security votes so that the ministry could react to threats to public safety in the nation’s capital.
The governors of the 36 states get a monthly allowance known as a security vote, which is only used to pay for security services inside those jurisdictions. Because of a lack of accountability and transparency, the monthly fund, which varies in size depending on the amount of protection required by each state and reaches billions of naira, has not been well embraced by citizens.
The minister said the security vote has become necessary to enable the FCT Administration to fund covert operations by security agencies to eliminate threats without going through the rigours of official bureaucracy capable of delaying action and revealing sensitive security information.
“If you recollect what we said in the security council meeting. I did say that in tackling the issue of insecurity, there are certain operations that we call covert operations and that some people may not even know. But here in Abuja, no security man can be given money without applying.
“For those of us who have been governors, the director of the SSS can come and tell you that they want to do an operation and will require, say, N20 million for the operation. Of course, you don’t need to go and call anybody. All you need to do is give him the N20 million in cash. But in FCT, there is nothing like that. You can’t even give N500,000.00″, he said.
“So there’s no security vote in the FCT. I presented this when we discussed security issues. This is just to let you know, so don’t forget that you did promise us that you will make sure that this time around there will be a security vote to take care of some of these challenges,” Wike urged lawmakers.
Commenting on the delay or non-completion of public projects, the minister said that most government contracts were “inflated,” adding that he owed no one apologies for the assertion.
According to Wike, contracts are inflated deliberately because the government doesn’t pay on time, thereby giving contractors and others on the project chain the window to call for variations.
He said he had opted to use Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to part-fund some projects, while awaiting the releases of main capital budgets and in that way scuttle the plots by contractors and their collaborators in the system to seek variation at the slightest opportunity.
According to the minister, the N1.147trillion statutory budget of the FCTA for 2024 is N506.5billion (44%) higher than the revised 2023 budget of N641.2billion.
Wike attributed the difference in the increase to “the expected loan from the commercial bank in the sum of N500 billion,” which he said would be applied to new and ongoing projects in the territory.
“The Personnel Costs component is N140.9billion, up from N99.5billoom in 2023 or a difference of N41.3billion (29%).
“The increase is to accommodate the emoluments of the appointed mandate secretaries and other political appointees of the administration, payment of staff promotion arrears, peculiar allowance, staff wage award arrears, and AEPB Conraiss arrears (11 months),” he explained.
The minister told the lawmakers that the additional N145.1billion would be spent on FCT Security Services; Loan Repayment; Logistics Support to Security Agencies; Operation and Maintenance of Wupa Sewage Treatment Plant; Maintenance of Dump Sites in Satellite Towns; Water Treatment Chemicals; and Welfare Packages (FCT Staff Palliative).
“Compared to N2023 when the Capital Allocation was N406.2billion, the budget size for this year is N726.3billion or a 63.28% raise,” he said.
