Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister of state, Ramatu Tijjani-Aliyu, has warned that she will not hesitate to deal decisively with any Secretariat, Department and Agency under her supervision that wants to sabotage the efforts of government in scaling up its internal revenue generation.
Aliyu, who gave the warning over the weekend, when she spoke on the side lines of 2020 budget preparation of the Federal Capital Territory Administration said, no responsible government can run the affairs of a mega city like Abuja with budgetary provisions and frowned at the lukewarm attitude of some revenue based agencies in driving the process.
The minister further warned that she will deployed all constitutional means to punish any Agency under her supervision who fails to comply with the renewed vigour of the present FCT Administration to boost its revenue base.
According to Aliyu, “You can quote me anywhere, I will be the first minister to discipline any erring agency or staff who want to sabotage government’s efforts in up-scaling Internally Revenue Generation (IGR) for the Administration. This is not a threat to any agency or head of agency, but I will use the Civil Service rules and regulations to discipline any erring secretariat or staff.
“It is shocking to me that despite numerous opportunities available to the Administration to increase its revenue generation, some secretariats or departments are just interested in the merger budgetary allocation from the federation account. How can we develop with this type of attitude?
“And let me state unequivocally that no responsible government can manage a mega city like ours by depending on budgetary allocations. It is high time; they go out and look for the money to develop Abuja of our dreams.”
She expressed optimism that with the support she is getting from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, the Administration will achieve a milestone in the revenue drive and called on agencies to wake to their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the minister has pledged to protect the rights and dignity of women and pledged the Administration’s commitment in ensuring that no woman will be abused in the nation’s capital.
Aliyu, who is also a crusader of women economic empowerment, called on women to engage in meaningful ventures with a view to bridging the gender gap in the society.
She spoke to newsmen shortly after receiving in audience the management of National Agency for the Prohibition in Persons (NATIP) led by the director-general, Julie Okah-Donli, who paid her a courtesy visit.
The minister noted that the FCT Administration has put measures in place to rehabilitate victims of sexual abuse, aimed at integrating them into the larger society, stressing that the Administration was already in partnership with NATIP and other relevant government agencies.
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According to her, “it might interest you to know that the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the office of the minister has been in the battle front against trafficking in women and sexual abuse.
“In fact, we even have centres in Nyanya, Bwari, Gwako and other places, even in Kuje where we keep victims and even rehabilitate them. After giving them training, we further reunite them with their families and reintegrate them into the larger society.
“This has been on for a very long time. We even have orphanages we are also running, but government as you know is a continuous process and we are willing to partner with NATIP to curb woman trafficking. But you know that Nigeria is a very large society and FCT is not a small place.
“So, with this collaboration with the existing agencies, we just need human capital, trained skills to implement some of these laws and it will go a long way to curb social menace in the society especially within the Federal Capital Territory ranging from sexual abuse, labour trafficking so on and so forth.
“We do have training centres for women and youth in Nyanya and in these centres, we train them to use the computer on how to improve on their skills. We have a large printing press, even though that printing press is broken down, but we are fixing it because it has the capacity to accommodate over 1200 victims and that will go a long way in addressing some of the problems being faced.
“At the end of the training, we provide them with trakeoff grant and starter’s packs. This collaboration with NATIP will go a long way in protecting the rights and dignity of womanhood and victims of sexual abuse”.
Also speaking, the Director General of NAPIT, Okah-Donli, acknowledged that the FCT Administration has done a lot in the protection of women’s rights.
