The chairman of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Ancillary Matters, Hon Fred Agbedi, has decried the zero capital budget for various departments and mandate secretariats of the FCT.

Agbedi, who made the call when he led members of the Committee on oversight to inspect the level of construction of the Palaces of the traditional rulers of Wako and Pai, both in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, said this was due to the fact they offer direct service to the people.

He urged the Minister and the Minister of State of the FCT to ensure that the secretariats have their own capital content of the budget.

This was as officials of the Kwali secretariat complained that among issues responsible for the state of the projects was the challenge of zero budget allocation.

Deputy Director, Implementation, Planning and Monitoring (IPM) of the Kwali Area Council Secretariat, Arc Jamil Sa’ad, said the review of the projects as well as budgetary problems were responsible for why the projects were stalled.

Expressing displeasure with the state of the two Palaces, saying they were as good as abandoned, he said there was a need to meet with the Secretariat and the contractor to know what is amiss.

Urging officials of the secretariat to furnish the Committee with all relevant documents pertaining to both projects, so they would be able to know what they need to address the situation, he said it was unfortunate that the projects that started in 2020 had not neared completion.

Agbedi said, “”In the course of our oversight session, we have come to observe that in all the mandate secretariats there is no capital content that is provided for, which is, as far as this committee is concerned, not the right way to go.

“If you spend government money, you should be able to account for it. And it is when these secretariats have capital overhead and personnel costs that they will be able to account for the money.

“If you don’t spend the money, then you may not have the responsibility of accounting for the money. And so I think we want to, as a committee, use this opportunity to request the FCT leadership, the Minister and the Minister of State, to ensure that the mandate secretariats have their own capital content of budget, so that this committee will be able to go down to the details in asking for accountability.

“This is because once you spend government money, you must also account transparently for that money that you expended. And if it is not reflected in the budget of the secretariats, then it will be difficult for you to call them to account for such money.

“We have been confronted with that situation almost all through the secretariats that we visited. And I think that Parliament will take notice of it and deal with the situation so that we can have transparency and accountability in the running of government office and expenditure at the mandate secretariat.”

Member representing Gwagwalada/Kuje/Kwali/Abajo Federal Constituency of the FCT, who is also a member of the Committee, Hon Abdulrahman Ajiya, said the traditional rulers had complained about the challenge with their palaces.

He also expressed displeasure with the state of the projects and assured that the Committee would work towards addressing them.

The Traditional Ruler of Wako, the Etsu-Mi Wako, HRH Abdulaziz Ibrahim, who received the lawmakers in his domain, said the project took off well, but was eventually abandoned.

He expressed gratitude for the lawmakers’ visit and was hopeful it would address the problem.