BY OBUTE JAMES
The Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, FCT on Thursday (today) passed a vote of no confidence on Alhaji Abdullahi Attah led FCT Internal Revenue Service over poor performance.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Abubakar Kyari had on Tuesday 30th March announced the adjournment of the deliberation on 2021 budget proposal of FCT IRS till Thursday 1st April over discrepancies found in documents presented before the committee.
However, on Thursday the committee expressed its dissatisfaction over the performance of FCT IRS under the leadership of Attah.
Senator Kyari said the National Assembly approved N3.5 billon for the agency in 2020 in order to run its affairs and recruit about 400 staff but unfortunately, despite the availability of the fund, only about N700 million was utilized without recruitment.
He said the committee had instructed the leadership of FCT IRS not to rely on Federal Inland Revenue Service for collection of revenue for the agency but to their surprise, the agency still proposed N1 billon for FIRS as 2 percent cost of collection.
The committee members also wondered why FCT internally generated revenue will be lower than some states like Ogun State instead of competing with a state like Lagos.
Kyari said improper management of FCT IRS will have negative impact on FCT which without doubt will result in collapse of infrastructure and social amenities in Abuja, the nation capital.
Kyari while addressing journalists after the budget deliberation and a closed door session with members of his committee said the resolution of the committee will be formally forwarded to the FCT IRS Board, FCT Minister and Minister of State for FCT.
Earlier, in his welcome address today, Kyari reiterated that the Senate Committee on FCT under his leadership shall be transparent, courageous, fair and will always be guided by the constitution, rules and parliamentary convention.
Attah while appearing before the Senate Committee on FCT today presented N2.715,200,305 as personnel costs, N4,627,637,914 as overhead costs, N1,610,000,000 as capital expenditure for 2021 fiscal year.
The agency is also proposing about N74 billon as IGR of FCT for 2021, the target the lawmakers said is below their expectation.
