The nation’s apex lawmaking body, the Senate, has assured Nigerians that it will prioritize ongoing projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, according to importance of the projects to the needs of the residents.

Against this backdrop, the legislative assembly said is ready to give priority attention to people-oriented projects initiated by the FCTA in terms of funding.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Tolu Odebiyi, who made the disclosure last week when the committee inspected some of capital projects being executed by the FCTA, noted that his committee embarked on the oversight function to see the extent the Abuja infrastructure projects had impacted on Nigerians.

Odebiyi pointed out that the committee is satisfied with the level of work done in the FCT by the minister and his team, He, however, stressed that the parliament will make sure that any of the projects that required priority is given due attention in order to increase the efficiency of service delivery to Abuja residents.

The lawmaker explained that the parliament has oversight responsibilities on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government as part of its legislative duties to the country, commending the Federal Capital Territory Administration for diligently working towards the development of the nation’s capital.

The lawmaker maintained that it had become imperative for the Senate, through its FCT Committee, to catalogue all the projects that have been done in the territory by the current administration, and prioritize the ones that must be completed before the end of its term, so as to provide adequate funding for such projects.

“As you know, part of our responsibility is to provide oversight duties as part of other legislative duties and what we’ve seen today has been quite interesting. We believe that in the twilight of this administration which is about 10 months, it is important that we catalogue all the projects that have been done and prioritize the ones that must be completed before the end of this term, so that we can make sure that we provide the adequate funding and budgets for such projects. The FCT budget is going to be forwarded to us soon and it’s important that we come and see the state of the work and their completion rate,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, Minister of the FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello, while conducting the lawmakers round the projects, said the administration had succeeded in the projects because of the cooperation of members of the National Assembly. He, however, lamented that paucity of funds has hampered the administration’s resolve to do more for the benefits of the citizenry.

According to him, since there are not sufficient funds to undertake all the projects at the same time, the Administration resolved to prioritize projects according to their merits and benefits to the greatest number of people, noting that most of the projects were road projects that were meant to link one section of the Abuja city to other sections.

Bello said, “What we did because of the paucity of funds, we decided to prioritize key infrastructure projects to get them completed and in deciding the ones that fit into that category, we looked at the ones that will give maximum benefit to the maximum number of people.”

The minister pointed out that the objective of focusing on road projects was to make Abuja a vibrant city, a city where people would feel comfortable, where there would be no traffic gridlock and where facilities would work, expressing optimism that working together with the National Assembly in harmony would help to actualize the objective.

“If you noticed, all the four projects we went to inspect today are all road projects that are meant to link one section of Abuja city to the other and that is the whole idea. The master plan has been designed in such a way that the road networks are supposed to complement each other and if you finish one portion and don’t do the other, then you don’t get the full utility of that particular road.

“Our intention is that as we round off the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, we intend to complete a number of projects and some of them we intend to develop themto the level where the next administration will be able to complete them within a very short period.

“Ultimately the objective is to make Abuja a vibrant city, a city where people will feel comfortable, where there is no traffic gridlock and where facilities will work. Working together with the National Assembly, I’m sure we will be able to achieve that,” the minister said.

While briefing the senators on the work required to complete the rehabilitation of the National Assembly Complex, the minister disclosed that a whopping sum of N30 billion would be needed to complete the project.

He noted that the National Assembly Phase II is popularly known as “the White House” was realized from 1996 to 1999 by ITB Nigeria Limited, pointing out that no major rehabilitation works have been carried out on the building over the years, resulting in the dilapidation of many parts of the complex.

According to Bello, the contract which was awarded on December 30, 2021, for 16 months has a contract sum of N30.2 billion while the amount paid was N9.2 billion. He further stated that the commencement date for the project execution was April 16, 2022 and is expected to be completed on August 15, 2023.

The minister listed other priority projects embarked upon by the administration including rehabilitation of the Federal Secretariat complex, and construction of the southern parkway from Christian Centre to the ring road.

Others are rehabilitation of expansion of Outer Southern Expressway, provision of engineering infrastructure for Wuye District, rehabilitation and expansion of Outer Southern Expressway Villa Roundabout and completion of B6, B12 and Circle Road in the Central Area. Bello said further that it was the intention of the ministry that as the tenure of President Buhari’s administration elapses, a number of projects would be completed. (New Telegraph)