Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, has said
government institutions indebted to the Abuja Environmental Protection
Board (AEPB) risk having a chunk of their overhead expenditure deducted
from the first line charge, should they fail to settle their outstanding
debts to the Board.
The Head of Service gave this warning when the Chairman, Ministerial Task
Team on the recovery of N9 billion owed the AEPB, Baba Shehu Lawan, led
members of the team to her office in Abuja.
According to her, the MDAs have no business owing the AEPB as these
expenses ought to have been fully catered for in their annual overhead
budgetary expenditures.
Oyo-Ita who disclosed that her office has similar understanding with the
PHCN or the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to deduct at first line
charge all indebtedness by government institutions to the company, said it
would have no option than to write the budget office to authorize this
arrangement, should these MDAs fail to defray their indebtedness to the
AEPB.
“We want to convey a very strong message to all the MDAs under the office
of Head of Service, that is the Ministries and various Parastatals that if
efforts are not made to clear these debts by the next overhead allocation,
we will have no option than to ask the budget office to make deductions at
first charge.
“That is the arrangement we even have here with the PHCN or Abuja
Electricity Distribution Company. We’ve given the budget office approval
to deduct our bills and they are still doing it,” she said.
The Head of Service also disclosed that a committee will be set up,
comprising members from her office and FCT Administration to negotiate
with the erring MDAs for the purposes of reconciliation and payment of
these outstanding debts.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Ministerial Task Team on the recovery of
N9 billion owed the AEPB, Baba Shehu Lawan, said the FCT Minister, Malam
Muhammad Musa Bello, constituted the special task team when the
administration realised it was unable to offset its rising indebtedness to
the companies it had contracted to provide these services.
Lawan emphasised that due to the dwindling revenues accruing to the FCTA,
the administration was finding it very difficult to settle these bills,
which he said, amounted to more than N200 million per month.
According to him, “the level of indebtedness to the FCTA by federal
government agencies exceeds over N9 billion. We have organizations, the
residents, the plazas, the commercial banks, the hospitals and so forth
that are all indebted to the administration”.
He stressed that, “because of this fact, this special task team was
constituted and given 8 weeks to recover such funds. We are now in our
third week.”
The chairman appealed to the Head of Service to prevail on the MDAs to
oblige and defray their balances within the shortest possible time to
avoid discontinuation of solid and liquid waste disposal services.
“The FCT Administration is by no means willing to embarrass federal
institutions either by dragging them to the mobile court or to discontinue
the services of either solid or liquid waste,” Lawan restated.