Members of the Senate Committee on the FCT took turns to commend the FCT Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello presented the revised FCT 2020 Statutory Appropriation proposals on Tuesday, 2nd December, 2020 at the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT, Senator Abubakar Kyari recollected the proactive measures taken by the FCT Administration at the start of the pandemic which included frequent consultations with relevant stakeholders, setting up of isolation centers, provision of palliatives, educating the citizenry and carrying out enforcement measures.
In the words of Senator Kyari, “Hon. Minister, we as a Committee appreciate the efforts that you and your team carried out in the health sector, the palliatives, the fumigation and the security agencies, especially the Task Force, led by Mr. Attah.”
He added “ I remember during our last meeting, I had to commend him because he was all over the place, he was very active and he was moving from nooks and crannies to educate people and also to carry out the enforcement of the task force regulation. I’m sure he derived his strength from the leadership of the Hon. Minister.”
In his contribution, Senator Smart Adeyemi equally commended the FCT Administration for rising to the challenge of the pandemic and urged it to keep up with the measures put in place to control the spread of the disease.
Senator representing the FCT, Philip Aduda also commended the FCT Administration for actions taken at the peak of the pandemic and attributed them to the relatively low numbers recorded by the FCT.
The FCT Minister, accompanied by senior officials of the FCTA, presented a revised statutory budget proposal of N189,512,094,100 as against the N232.875,365,947 in the 2020 Appropriation Act which represents a reduction of 19 percent.
Malam Bello also revealed that the revised FCT 2020 Appropriation proposal was prepared in line with the guidelines stipulated in the Federal Ministry of Finance Circular (FMF/OHM/2020APALT/1), which prioritized growth enhancing, pro-poor and social sector investments.
