By Khanoba Khanoba, Abuja
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been urged to stop comparing the then administration of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in area of infrastructural development with the achievements being recorded by the present FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed.
The Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Arch. Rueben Okoya who stated this on Tuesday during a media briefing, said the amount of money available to the present administration from the national budget is a far cry from what was annually allocated to FCT administration when El-Rufai held sway as the minister.
“The last year of El-Rufai government the national budget for FCT for project across the city was N150 billion, for Bala Mohammed, the last year national budget for FCT was N30 billion.
“How can you compare those two? Is like comparing Apples and Oranges. So the amount of work you have done with N150 billion is not the same amount of work you can do with N30 billion.
“Mind you there is inflation, N30billion in 2007 is not the same with 2014, revenue is dwindling and when you look at Abuja you see projects going on.” Okoya, whose role is to manage the Abuja city said.
Speaking on the huge influx of people into the Federal Capital Territory in recent times, the AMMC boss described the number of Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the territory as frightening, adding that the development has put pressure on the already overstretched facilities in the nation’s capital.
“The unrest in the North-East and the unrest in the South-South too, people are moving to Abuja as a safe haven. I can assure you that thousands of people have moved to Abuja just based on the bombing in Kano on Friday.
“The amount of IDPs we have in this city is frightening, you cannot drive them away. The churches are under tremendous pressure, the mosques are under tremendous pressure. People come in and go to churches and mosques to seek for assistance.” He said.
The AMMC boss restated the commitment of the FCT administration to ensure that the IDPs are fully cater for , but ruled out the possibility of establishing IDPs camp, “If you establish a camp everybody will move to FCT.” Okoya added
