Prudent Fund Mgt: Reps C”ttee Vows to Ensure Transparency in FCT Councils

….pledge to interrogate 6 FCT council chairmen

From Lateef Taiwo

To ensure transparency in fund management, the House of Representatives Committee on Federal Capital Territory, FCT and Auxiliary Matters has vowed to engage
the six Area Council Chairmen on their expenditure.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Fredrick Agbedi who disclosed this in a brief meeting attended by the Minister of State for FCT, Mariya Mahmud along with some Chairmen of the area council expressed displeasure that they had been dodging the invitation to explain how they have been spending tax payers money in their position.

In his welcome remarks, the Committee Chairman said all the six Area Chairmen would answer have to answer questions from his panel after they have repeatedly failed to honor their invitation.

The Chairman, however expressed displeasure over the behaviour of council boss even as he emphasized that their action have held the parliament in contempt.

Earlier in his comment, the chairman had also explained his Committee mandates adding they are not to witch-hunt anyone but stressed that anyone who is in service must be transparent as well as accountable to the citizenry.

The FCT Minister for State, Mahmud while speaking at the event apologised for not being able to meet up in the earlier invitations of the Commitee even as she promised to attend subsequent meeting of the panel as well as work with the Committee.

On his contributions, the Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Danladi Chia equally apologised on behalf his other colleagues for their inability to attend previous meeting of the Committee.

Accordingly, an official schedule provided by the Clerk of the Committee to the panel which was also made available to Chairmen presence showed that Abaji Area Council would appear before the Committee on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.

It would be recalled that the Committee had last Tuesday threatened to stop all budgetary allocation to the FCT due to the refusal of the Area Council Chairmen as well as agencies in charge of the Councils to honour previous invitations.