The Senate on Wednesday dropped the
controversial African First Ladies' Peace
Mission House project when it passed
the N259.65bn budget of the Federal
Capital Territory for the 2013 fiscal year
without approving the N4bn
appropriated for it.
In February when the budget proposal
was brought to the National Assembly, it
contained N4bn vote for the construction
of the mission house in Abuja, a
development that attracted a lot of
criticisms from members of the public.
The Senate, during the second reading
of the bill, questioned the rationale of
committing scarce resources to
prosecute a less important structure.
Civil rights groups and political parties
had also berated the Federal Capital
Territory Administration for budgeting
N4bn for the construction of the building
for a non-governmental body headed by
the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan.
They had contended that since the
Federal Government had earlier
declared the mission as a non-
governmental organisation, it would be
inappropriate for the same government
to spend public funds on it.
Presenting the budget report on
Wednesday, the Chairman, Senate
Committee on FCT, Senator Smart
Adeyemi, said, “It is worthy of note that
the proposed appropriation for the
construction of building for the African
First Ladies' Peace Mission has been
distributed to meet pressing needs in
the area of engineering and satellite
towns.”
A breakdown of the budget showed that
N48.03bn was approved for personnel
matters; N49.5bn for overhead;
N97.54bn for recurrent expenditure; and
N155.66bn as capital expenditure.
Adeyemi said the budget was predicated
on a projected revenue of N259.698bn
with a fiscal surplus of N645,666.
He also said that in carrying out its
oversight duties, the committee
identified critical areas of need for the
development of the territory and to
ensure improved standard of living for its
inhabitants.
“Therefore, the committee jostled with
the budget estimates, deploying funds
to meet areas of critical needs like roads,
water, health, education and
development of satellite towns within
the territory, city maintenance and
cleaning, recreational facilities,
construction of rehabilitation centres,
agriculture, transportation, security
services and rehabilitation of the
ECOWAS Parliament Building,” he said.
After passing the budget, the President
of the Senate, David Mark, called on the
committee to rise up to its responsibility
by discharging its oversight functions
effectively.
He said the city was dilapidating and
receding in its development with traffic
congestion and ill maintained streets and
gardens depicting the decay.
Mark said, “There is a lot of traffic
congestion. The streets are not being
kept in very good condition; the gardens
and the lawns are not being maintained;
I think there are a lot of areas where the
city has to work very well.
“This is where we have to implore your
oversight functions. It is our
responsibility to ensure that things work
properly.”

Source:-www.mobile.punchng.com/output.php?link=http://www.punchng.com/news/senate-stops-n4bn-first-ladies-mission-house-project/

Brb. Lemme finish my dinner..