The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said that there are no other means of generation of funds for projects in the nation’s capital apart from the Internally Generated Revenues, IGR.
Wike said this is the only way the FCT Administration has been able to fund the numerous projects in both the city center and area councils.
The minister said the FCT Administration relies mainly on IGR and also applies prudence in the utilisation of available resources, stressing the need for residents to pay their taxes.
The minister spoke during a routine inspection of ongoing projects in FCT, and the inspection of the full scope development of the 11km FCT Highway 105, otherwise known as Kuje Highway, from the Airport Expressway to Kuje Junction with Spur at Kyami.
The minister also inspected the emergency construction of a 5-kilometer Kuje township road from the Garage Junction to the LEA Secretariat within the Kuje Area Council.
He reiterated the FCT Administration’s commitment to providing infrastructure in the FCT in line with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Wike also stressed that the road projects would be constructed with streetlights, adding that it would ultimately change the area’s topography.
“It’s a matter of strategy and being prudent with the available resources. No government or institution can say they will have all the necessary resources to carry out every service or services,” he said.
The FCT Minister further said: “What is important to us is yes, we try to make sure that people pay their taxes. One thing I can tell you about people or Nigerians is that when they see that their taxes are being utilized, they reciprocate by making sure they pay their taxes. But they are reluctant to pay when they see that the taxes they pay and nothing has been done with it.
“We are trying as much as possible to continue increasing our IGR. We are using our IGR to pay. There is no other money coming from anywhere.
“And again, we restrict the number of projects and ensure that we have gone far before awarding other projects and that the funding is available so that it will not be an abandoned project or projects.
“So, it’s not that we have so much money. It’s just that we are trying to prudently manage what we have and apply it in the best interest of our people.”
