Mr. Nyesom Wike who is Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has disclosed that the Ministry of Finance has released ₦50 billion to the Administration to finance ongoing capital projects in the country’s capital.
According to Wike, the amount is 50 percent of FCT’s ₦100 billion 2023 supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly in December, 2023.
The minister made the announcement right after an inspection tour of some ongoing projects in the FCT, in Abuja yesterday evening.
He said he has directed the Permanent Secretary to immediately make payments to the contractors handling projects in FCT.
“I am happy to announce to you that the Ministry of Finance has released 50 per cent of the national supplementary budget.
“That in a way, has given us that hope that the contractors will be paid anytime from now.
“We have also gotten assent to the FCT Statutory Budget, which again, has given us hope that no project will be left uncompleted as promised. As you can see, these are quality projects, which we are very satisfied with.
“We believe that the arrangements made by the contractors will enable us to commission the projects to celebrate Mr President’s one year in office.”
The minister commended the residents of Abuja for their support, while assuring them that there was no promise made that would not be fulfilled, stressing that a promise made would be fulfilled.
He expressed confidence that the projects would be delivered on schedule, saying “we are quite hopeful; we are quite convinced that they would keep to the time scheduled as agreed.
“We are happy with what we have seen, and we will continue to do things to the satisfaction of the residents of Abuja and assure them that the renewed hope agenda is not a mere talk.”
Wike acknowledged some challenges at the course of delivering the projects, adding, however, that the challenges were surmountable.
He added that with the kind of support from President Bola Tinubu, there were no challenges that would not be surmountable.
One of the projects inspected is the Outer Southern Expressway, which stretched from A.A Rano, through Deeper Life Junction, SARS, Apo roundabout to Wasa District.
The road is being constructed by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) Nigeria Limited.
Wike also inspected the Northern N-20 Expressway in Jahi District being constructed by Gilmor Construction firm and the Vice President’s residence being constructed by Julius Berger.
The Area Manager, CGC Nigeria Ltd., Yong Hong, assured the minister that the Outer Southern Expressway would be delivered before May.
Similarly, the representative of Julius Berger, Mr Oliver Berger, said that the team were on site for the past two months and have done a lot of work on the VP residence project.