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Tag: FCTA

  • No cause for alarm – FCTA assures Abuja residents of security

    No cause for alarm – FCTA assures Abuja residents of security

    Following United States warning  alert, the FCT Administration (FCTA) has beefed up security in the Abuja metropolis and its environs.

    Similarly, FCTA has advised residents not to panic, stay calm and resolute, assuring that security agencies are on their toes to sustain peace, law and order.

    The Director of Information, Muhammad Sule through a statement signed and released by him on Monday, noted that necessary arrangements have been made to safeguard lives and property.

    The spokesperson announced that FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello presided over an emergency meeting on Monday.

    Bello charged the law enforcement community to do all within their powers to protect FCT residents from attacks.

    The FCTA, however, dispelled the rumor that some schools have been closed.

    Bello advised residents to cooperate with security agencies by volunteering credible and timely information.

    The ministry urged residents and visitors to go about their legitimate activities.

    “Security agencies have been fully mobilized to checkmate any form of intrusion into the FCT”, the statement added.

    Also on Monday, the Nigeria Police announced a Counter Terrorism Incident Simulation Exercise codenamed “Operation Darkin Gaggawa”.

    Drills will be held at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday. Residents should expect the sounds of gunshots and explosives.

  • COVID-19: Protesting contractors shut down FCTA over non-payment for PPE deliveries

    COVID-19: Protesting contractors shut down FCTA over non-payment for PPE deliveries

     

    Close to 200 contractors, on Monday, protested at the office of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja, blocking the major entrances over unpaid sum for the supplies of COVID-19 medical and non-medical items to the FCT Administration.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the contractors claimed they executed various COVID-19 contracts for the FCT Administration between March 2020 and April 2021, without being paid, accused the FCT permanent secretary, Olusade Adesola, of being responsible for their travail.

    Ewoma Micheal and Dan Dayo, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, said Adesola has been paying some of the contractors, especially those who had agreed to receive part payments at the detriment of other contractors.

    They lamented that some of them contracted the virus while supplying the various medical equipment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and other items used in containing the pandemic in the FCT.

    What we heard initially was that procurement process was suspended and this money was supposed to have been paid within two weeks, maximum one month, of supply. Some of us took loans to be able to meet up with the supply,” Dayo said.

    Also, Nelcy Mokwenye and Emmanuel Nwachendu, two of the contractors accused the FCTA of demanding N1 million bribe before they would be paid.

    They stressed that there is no justification for the delay of their payments one year after supplying the items, noting that it was stated in the agreement signed with the authorities that they would be paid two weeks after the supply, once they submit their invoices.

    This is one year running nothing, what we are hearing is that each of the contractors has to pay N1 million bribe to the Permanent Secretary before we can be paid. That without the N1 million bribe, you won’t get paid,” Nwachendu said.

    However, Adesola denied asking any of the contractors to pay bribe.

    He said that the delay in the payment of the contractors was due to their failure to meet all the administrative requirements.

    “I am not aware of any payment of N1m. The only instruction I gave was that all documents should be in a file before any payment can be made. The payment is in batches, we have paid others. Contractors below N10m have been paid, if there are issues, the contractors are the cause because they are yet to meet up with the requirements,” Olusade said.

    END

  • FCTA to demolish all illegal structures at Gwarinpa

    FCTA to demolish all illegal structures at Gwarinpa

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has vowed to sustain the demolition of illegal structures, markets and shanties built on the enchroached rail corridor in Gwarinpa.

    Mr Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, stated this after clean up exercise at Gwarinpa, on Friday in Abuja.

    Attah explained that the exercise was being coordinated by joint Taskforce team which comprises of FCTA Senior officials, Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force , as well as Federal Road Safety Corps.

    Others are Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    He listed others to include the Department of State Services, the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services, and Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

    The minister’s aide said that the joint taskforce team stormed the Gwarimpa rail corridor unannounced to commence demolition of shanties, market and butchers defacing the area.

    According to him, the shanties were not only cleared, but also burnt to ashes with a view to preventing a comeback of the illegal structures and market.

    Attah said that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello and the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Sunday Babaji, had renewed commitment to clearing all criminal hideouts in the nation’s capital.

    He said: ” We are here for several reasons, the first one is that there have been series of complaints over this place.

    ”Secondly, the issue of city sanitation is a problem here and general issues of insecurity here.

    ” This is Hayari market , we cleared it last year and this year we have come again to clear it because the traders returned.

    “The FCT Police Commissioner, Babaji and Police Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Gwarinpa had gotten report of criminal activities going on here.

    ”The residents had also complained very bitterly of persons trying to hide here as cover to rob neighborhoods and that has been very alarming.”

    Attah revealed that during the exercise, some arrests were made of people carrying illicit drugs by the NDLEA of the Command and Control JTF team under the CP of FCT and DC Bernard Iwe.

    “The Police also arrested three suspected criminals and the NDLEA arrested two people allegedly peddling drugs.

    ”This is a big task, but we are not given up. We will keep coming until they stop to come,”he added.

  • PHOTO: 480 suspected criminals arrested in Abuja

    PHOTO: 480 suspected criminals arrested in Abuja

    The FCT Administration arrested 480 suspected criminals from uncompleted buildings and undeveloped plots of land in the Maitama and Wuse II areas of the city on Friday.

    Commander in charge of the task force that effected the arrests, Mr Bennett Igweh said the suspects, mostly male, had turned green areas, undeveloped plots of land, and unoccupied houses into their haven for crime.

    Igweh said the team would stop at nothing at ridding the city of criminal elements threatening the peace of the FCT.

    He said the task force recovered police uniforms, mobile phones, loaded pistol, machetes and charms from the suspects.

    “We arrested about 480 suspected criminals. We are going to take many of them to court. They live in unauthorised places in the FCT; they want to hide within the shanties and black spots in order to commit havoc in Abuja.

    “We will do thorough profiling because we suspect that some of them are escapees from the Kuje Correctional Centre. We are starting from the city centre, and we will extend the arrests to other areas.

    “The exercise will reach 21 satellite villages and towns from Kabusa to Gishiri to Waru and to Wasa and others,’’ Igweh said.

    See photo of suspects below:

    PHOTO: 480 suspected criminals arrested in Abuja
    Photo of suspects
  • Insecurity: FCTA restores security operations with neighbouring states

    Insecurity: FCTA restores security operations with neighbouring states

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has re-invigorated the ‘G7” security operations to secure the territory.

    The ‘G7’ security operations involve collaboration and partnerships with states that are contiguous to the territory.

    This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Anthony Ogunleye, Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister.

    The FCT Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, made this known during the FCT monthly Security Committee meeting.

    He explained that the operation would involve taking the fight to the bandits and terrorists in their camps which are mostly located in states bordering the FCT.

    The police commissioner, however, called for the collaboration and cooperation of residents of the FCT to provide actionable and timely intelligence to the security agencies.

    He advised them to be security conscious at all times, and assured residents of their safety and urged them to go about their lawful activities.

    “I call on residents to give actionable and timely intelligence to all the security agencies and to also be security conscious.

    “I’m also assuring them that FCT is safe. Every member of the community should go about their lawful businesses. We are on top of the situation.

    “We have deployed our men both overt and covert and we are doing everything possible in synergy with all the security agencies and support of our traditional rulers and religious leaders to make sure that FCT is safe,” he said.

    Amb. Abu Mohammed, the Senior Special Assistant on Security to the FCT Minister, revealed the readiness of the heads of security agencies in the neighbouring states to participate actively in the G7 operations.

    He also called on residents to be wary of fake news especially on the social media which are designed to cause panic amongst the citizenry.

    Circulating such news, he said would amount to playing into the hands of terrorists, and urged the residents not to panic.

    He, however, called on them to verify news and other information from relevant and recognised authorities.

    The meeting which was chaired by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello was attended by the FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu and Chief of Staff to the Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu amongst others.

  • Kpokpogri finally clears air about role Tonto Dikeh played in the demolition of his Abuja house

    Kpokpogri finally clears air about role Tonto Dikeh played in the demolition of his Abuja house

    Joseph Egbri, aka Kpokpogri, a politician and former lover of actress, Tonto Dikeh, has finally cleared the air about the role Nollywood actress played in the recent demolition of his house in Abuja.

    Kpokpogri pointed out that the Federal Housing Authority (FHC) and Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) are liars from the pit of hell to have said they had given him several notices before the building was eventually demolished.

    “They had the audacity to come into somebody’s property, without prior notice, and demolished it because they are in power. Very soon, they will leave power, and the same treatment they meted out to others would be accorded them.

    “It was after I built the house that the place became habitable, and activities began to pick up in the area. I daresay it was that building that attracted development in that area. The place was practically a bush for many years.

    “Even the original allottee got that allocation in 2015. If they knew there was to be a road there, why did they not revoke it (the allocation)? When I was building (my house), the FHA usually came to supervise the building from the beginning to the end. Even when I was putting up a fence, they came.

    “They just came from nowhere with a vicious excuse which I consider to be an afterthought that a road is supposed to pass through my house. There are empty lands there (in the area) that people have not built, why doesn’t the road go through those on occupied lands, he said.

    Talking about the role Tonto Dikeh played in the demolition of his house, Kpokpogri asserted that those linking her to it are liars.

    “Those are lies. Tonto has nothing to do with it. She knows nothing about what happened there. I believe there are some people behind what happened and God is going to expose them all. They will suffer 10 times what I did on that day, because that thing (demolition) is not ordinary.

    “I cannot kill myself. I have my kids to live for. There are also many youths who depend on me to survive. I don’t care what she is saying. I don’t even want to say anything about that girl. I don’t want to be involved in anything concerning her,” he added.

    Tonto Dikeh’s former lover noted that the reason his house was demolished has nothing to do with the claim that it was because there was to be a road there, but because he is not a northerner.

    In his words: “This same thing has been done to many of our southern and eastern brothers. There is a man who built a very massive estate of over 100 units here in Abuja. But, because he is from Anambra State, when the man was building, nobody went there to put up any notice (for him to stop work).

    “But, as soon as he finished building, they went to mark the place for demolition. What kind of oppression is that? Something needs to be done about that. I am sure something like this would not have happened to a northerner in a place like Asaba or Warri (Delta State).”

    On how he acquired the land, Kpokpogri explained that it was a lawyer in the FHA, one Mr Uche, that sold the property to him.

    “Being a civil servant, he should have known that a road would pass through the property he was selling, so why did he involve himself in that kind of transaction.

    “After buying the two plots, I took my building design to them. When they saw the design, they condemned it. They said they were the ones that would draw the design for me, that they could not allow me to go ahead with it.

    “I said if that was the case, so be it. They then did the design, signed it, brought it back to me, and gave me a copy after I had paid for my building development.

    “I paid all the fees I was required to pay to the government, including the building approval. If the building approval was not properly paid, they would not have allowed me to start any work on the property,” he posited.

    Kpokpogri opined that the minister that ordered the demolition of his house does not have the fear of God and kind of house, saying “even when his personal assistant, Sani Daura, came to my house, the first thing he said was, ‘Oga, this your house is beautiful. Even my boss does not have this kind of house”.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls that the FCDA claimed the demolished building (Kpokpogri’s house) was obstructing a road alignment that was designed to serve as an important bypass to the Abuja-Keffi axis.

    Reacting to the claim, he said: “Those are lies. Go and check the Abuja masterplan, if there is any road like that passing through that place. Go and check the FHA master plan. I went to the FHA three times and they asked me to go, that my house would not be affected.”

  • Why they came to demolish my mansion – Tonto Dikeh’s ex, Prince Kpokpogri

    Why they came to demolish my mansion – Tonto Dikeh’s ex, Prince Kpokpogri

    Tonto Dikeh’s ex-lover, Prince Joseph Kpokpogiri has said his mansion worth over N700 million was demolished because he refused to sell it to some ”powerful” but unnamed individuals.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Prince Kpokpogri made this known as officials from the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) demolished his multi-million Naira mansion in Abuja on Saturday.

    Kpokpogiri claimed that the decision to pull down his mansion was an act of oppression, stressing that the unnamed powerful individuals had begged him to sell the property to them but that he refuse.

    He assured that he would fight fervently to get justice for the demolished building.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has disowned Kpokpogiri, saying that proper building plan was not approved before the mansion was erected.

    TNG reports officials of FHA, alongside its Managing Director, Gbenga Ashafa, visited the site of the doomed building three days ago, in company of some top Management team of FCTA.

    The officials claimed that the plot of land originally belonged to FHA. According to FHA, notices to stop work were served at different stages and time of the work, but Kpokpogiri refused to comply.

    Also, the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Malam Shehu Hadi, who was also in the team that visited the site, said the road alignment had been done long ago and FHA was duly notified.

    Hadi noted that the alignment, which the demolished building obstructed, was designed to serve as an important bye-pass to Abuja-Keffi axis.

    He added that any plan to realign the road because of the building would be difficult and not fair judgment to those that it would affect, considering that the demolished building was not in existence earlier when the plan started.

    On his part, the Director, FCTA Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, said the mansion, located in the highbrow District of Guzape, Abuja, was unapproved, and couldn’t be allowed to override public interest.

    Galadima noted that the mansion, sitting on a rock in the fast developing district, was an obstruction to a major road network, connecting the popular Apo Bridge to many parts of the city.

    According to him, FHA has been duly allocated the area in the district, to carry out its Mass Housing Programmes.

    He, however, said that when the road network of the district was officially realigned, FHA was promptly notified that some plots of lands within its area had been affected.

    Galadima added that FHA was ordered not to allow any further development on the affected plots, as replacement plots would be given to them.

    He also denied lack of inter-agency collaboration between FCTA and FHA, stating that all necessary communications were properly documented.

    ”There is adequate inter-agency cooperation, the FHA approached the FCTA for allocation, and they were given approval and were asked to make sure that whatever they did, aligned with the approval.

    ”The plot in question was part of what was in the allocation, but because of the importance of the road, we wrote to FHA, notifying it that a number of plots had affected the realignment of the road, and that we are going to give it replacement plots.

    ”We told them that no development should be allowed on the plots, and this was around 2019; we came for site visit and have given them notice.

    “We even marked the building for demolition, but the owner cleaned it off,” Galadima said.

  • FCTA seals Federal Ministry of Works, Character Commission, others

    FCTA seals Federal Ministry of Works, Character Commission, others

    The FCT Administration, on Tuesday sealed the Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Character Commission and Merit House Maitama over N10 billion waste collection debt owed Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

    Addressing newsmen during the exercise, the Director of AEPB) Mr Osilama Briamah, said the board provided waste management and other environmental services for their service providers and they refused to pay.

    He explained that the board had huge amount laying without a response from the defaulters.

    “We try to negotiate to have a better way to achieve results but there was no positive response, we have given them a payment plan but many of them refused to take this opportunity seriously.

    “The board then resort to legal means to recover the debts. The board obtained court orders to seal the premises.

    “The exercise which has just begun will cover all public and private offices owing the board,’’ he said.

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

    The breakdown of the debts showed that Federal Ministry of Education owed N25,838,275, the Federal Ministry of Defense –N17,220,775.00 and the Federal Character Commission, N10,128,906.25.

    Others include Civil Service Commission -N2,451,649.50, Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, N21,683,750.00, Federal Ministry of Health N14,204,843.75.

    Also owing are; Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, N19,222,287.50, Federal Ministry of Works, N9,998,625.00 and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps Wuse, N16,583,031.25.

    Speaking, Mr Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, said the operation followed the initiative put together by the FCT Minister and the FCTA Permanent Secretary to recover debts owed the board.

    Attah stated that the FCT Administration was worried about the huge amount being owed FCTA.

    “FCT Administration needs enough fund to build infrastructure and keep the city running. The administration has decided to go after the Ministries, Parastatal Agencies and Private individuals.

    “We cannot wait to see government money tie down, it is wrong for people not to pay for services rendered,” he said.

    According to reports, AEPB said it may lockdown some government offices, hotels, Plazas and other business premises due to debts owed the board.

    The Director of AEPB, Mr Osilama Briamah, made the disclosure in a statement, on Monday in Abuja.

    Briamah explained that the measure was coming on the heels of the Task Team set up by the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, to recover over N10 billion owed the AEPB by several government agencies, business premises and residential apartments.

  • FCTA to seal up govt. offices, hotels to recover N10b waste collection debts

    FCTA to seal up govt. offices, hotels to recover N10b waste collection debts

    The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) says it may lockdown some government offices, hotels, Plazas and other business premises due to debts owed the board.

    The Director of AEPB, Mr Osilama Briamah, made the disclosure in a statement, on Monday in Abuja.

    Brianah explained that the measure was coming on the heels of the Task Team set up by the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, to recover over N10 billion owed the AEPB by several government agencies, business premises and residential apartments.

    ” As workers prepare to resume work after the Easter holiday, some government offices, hotels, plazas and other business premises may be under lock and key due to debts owed to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).”

    He said that the task team had been mandated to apply all legal means to recover the huge sums of money from the debtors.

    The director explained that the debts accrued over time due to the failure of those concerned to pay for services rendered to them by the AEPB.

    ” All of us desire to live and work in a world-class city compared to other beautiful cities around the world.

    ” But we can only do that successfully if we behave as responsible citizens and paid our utility bills, especially for solid and liquid waste collection.

    “Unfortunately, many agencies, residential apartments, hotels, plazas and so on, are not paying their bills as expected.

    ” That makes it difficult to raise the money needed to manage a mega-city like Abuja”, he said.

    He said beginning from 5:30a.m. on Tuesday April 19, based on a court order already obtained by the AEPB, the task team would embark on mass seal-up of the affected facilities with the aim of recovering the huge money being owed.

    He lamented that the AEPB had made moves to provide a soft-landing for the debtors, through negotiated settlement but to no avail.

    Briamah added that the only option left was to apply the legal means of enforcing the court order to seal-up the affected premises.

    The Director, however, said the affected debtors could avoid the impending embarrassment by ensuring prompt payment of their liabilities.

    He explained that the payments could be made conveniently through the Remita Portal.

  • FEBRUARY ALLOCATION: FCTA disburses N3,592,846,301.74 to 6 area councils, other stakeholder

    FEBRUARY ALLOCATION: FCTA disburses N3,592,846,301.74 to 6 area councils, other stakeholder

    Six area councils and other stakeholder have been given N3,592,846,301.74, by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) as its share of statutory allocation for February 2022.

     

    The figure indicates a slight increase in revenue from N3,562,934,772.37 disbursed in January. FCT Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, who presided over the 163rd Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC), observed that though the increase in the disbursement was minimal, the administration would continue to scale up its revenue drive.

     

    The figures released indicated that N1,326,783,880.29 was made available for distribution to the six area councils, while other stakeholders got N2,266,062,421.45, bringing the total to N3,592,846,301.74.

     

    However, distributions to area councils show that the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) got N207,082,171.27, Gwagwalada N233, 585, 596.80 and Kuje N248,339,395.40.

     

    Others include Bwari N215,077,684.57, Abaji N217,669,671.27 and Kwali N205,029,360.98, bringing the total to N1,326,783,880.29 disbursed to the six area councils.

     

    Distribution to other stakeholders include: Primary school teachers N1,895,805,563.23, 15 per cent Pension Fund N226,478,989.57, one per cent Training Fund N35,928,463.02, while 10 per cent Employer Pension Contribution gulped N107,849,405.63, bringing the sum to N2,266,062,421.

     

    The minister, however, expressed concerns over the bureaucracy in engaging new cleaning contractors in some areas, just as she called on the permanent secretary and the Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) to expedite action.