FCT minister warns council bosses against over-bloated staffing

Releases N2.903b June allocation
Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ramatu Aliyu, has cautioned chairman of the six area councils in the territory against misappropriation of their monthly allocation, particularly, through over-bloated staff strength.

She gave the warning while announcing the release of N2,903,139,412.86 as June allocation to the councils.

According to her, over-bloating of staff is placing huge financial burden on the monthly allocation of the councils, pointing out that indiscriminate recruitment without corresponding increase in revenue generation can be detrimental to the economy.

Aliyu, who gave the warning during the 166th Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC), expressed displeasure over the attitude of some council authorities that embarked on recruitment of staff without corresponding value for revenue generation.

She charged the councils’ leadership to scale up revenue generation to meet up critical needs of rural communities in the territory.

Her words: “While it is the responsibility of government at all levels to provide jobs, I am also of the opinion that such exercise should be done in corresponding value of revenue generation within your councils.

“It makes no sense to me if we carry out recruitment that will become a financial burden to all of us.”

The JAAC approved N2,903,139,412.86 billion for onward disbursement to the six area councils and other stakeholders as its share of statutory allocation for the month of June 2022.

A breakdown of the figures indicate that N622,223,249.20 was made available for distribution to the six area councils, while N2,280,916,163.66 was allocated to other stakeholders.

Similarly, distribution to area councils show that the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) received N140,340,099.54, Gwagwalada got N90,790,068.65 and Kuje received N128,422,208.31.

Others include, Bwari N89,245,658.86, Abaji N92,585,160.45 and Kwali N80,840,053.39.

Further, distribution to other critical stakeholders include: Primary School Teachers N1,917,556,374.33, 15 per cent pension fund N226,478,989.57, one per cent training fund gN29,031,394.13 and 10 per cent employer pension contribution N107,849,405.63 – bringing the total to N2,280,916,163.66.