FCTA seals FMoW, FCC, others over N10 billion debt

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), yesterday, sealed offices of the Federal Ministry of Works (FMoW), Federal Character Commission (FCC) and Merit House, Maitama as well as Murg Plaza for failure to pay N10 billion owed the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

Addressing journalists during the exercise, the Director of AEPB, Osilama Briamah, said the board provided waste management and other environmental services to the ministry and others concerned, but they failed to pay.

“We try to negotiate for a better way to achieve results, but there was no positive response. We gave them a payment plan, but many of them refused to take the opportunity seriously. The board then resorted to legal means to recover the debts. The board got court orders to seal the premises,” he said.

According to him, the exercise, which has just begun, will cover all public and private offices owing to the board.

A senior magistrate court sitting in Wuse II, Abuja, had served the defendants with a summons to appear before it on March 30, 2022, but they failed to honour the court.

Breakdown of the debts showed that Federal Ministry of Education (FMoE) owed 25,838,275, Federal Ministry of Defence (FMoD) 17,220,775 and FCC 10,128,906.25.

Others include Civil Service Commission (CSC) 2,451,649.50, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) 21,683,750, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) 14,204,843.75, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment (FMoTI) 19,222,287.50, FMoW 9,998,625 and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Wuse 16,583,031.25.

Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the Minister of FCT, Ikahro Attah, who led the enforcement, said the operation followed the initiative put together by his principal and the permanent secretary to recover the debts.

Attah expressed the FCTA’s worry about the high amount of debt.

He said: “FCTA needs enough funds to build infrastructure and keep the city running. It has decided to go after the ministries, parastatals, agencies and private individuals.

“We cannot sit and watch the government’s money tied down. It is wrong for people not to pay for services rendered.”