Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said about 70 per cent of infrastructure projects completed by the FCT Administration (FCTA) under President Bola Tinubu were inherited contracts that had been abandoned for between 15 and 16 years.
Wike said the decision to revive and complete the projects was in line with President Tinubu’s directive that viable government projects should not be abandoned after public funds had been committed to them.
Speaking during his monthly media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the minister said the FCTA adopted a two-pronged approach of completing inherited projects while also initiating new infrastructure developments across the nation’s capital.
He said abandoning already-funded projects would have been unfair to residents who had waited for years to benefit from improved infrastructure.
“The President said we can’t abandon old projects, and we must also carry out new ones. I can tell you that about 60 per cent of the projects we have executed in the last three years were projects awarded 15 to 16 years ago but abandoned,” Wike said.
“If we had allowed that, people would still be asking questions about those abandoned projects. So, we first made sure they were completed, and we have achieved that with not less than 70 per cent of them.”
The minister said the administration’s strategy was aimed at improving connectivity, reducing traffic congestion and opening up new districts for residential and commercial development, particularly in satellite communities.
Wike attributed the pace of infrastructure delivery in the FCT to the support of President Tinubu’s administration, including the removal of the FCTA from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which he said had improved the administration’s financial flexibility.
The minister also said he had become unpopular among some FCT civil servants because his administration had blocked avenues through which public funds were allegedly diverted.
According to him, efforts to enforce fiscal discipline and reduce waste had attracted resistance from some workers, but he maintained that prudent management of public resources was central to the government’s development agenda.
Wike criticised the practice of funding overseas conferences and study tours for government officials, describing some of them as unnecessary expenses that offered limited value.
“We waste our resources on frivolities. You expect me to approve funds for you to attend a one-week conference on land administration in America. For what?” he said.
“If you want to study land administration, go to Lagos or Port Harcourt, see how theirs work or doesn’t work, and compare it with Abuja. I will not approve ₦20 million for that kind of trip.”
The minister said his administration had also changed the structure of the FCT budget by prioritising capital expenditure over recurrent spending.
He recalled that about 65 per cent of the FCT budget was previously committed to recurrent expenditure, leaving limited funds for development projects. Under the current arrangement, he said, about 70 per cent of the budget is now allocated to capital projects, while 30 per cent goes to recurrent expenditure.
