March 19, (THEWILL)- The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has urged the House of Representatives to approve the sum of N500 billion loan to finance the N1.147 trillion 2024 budget of the territory.
Wike made the appeal when he appeared before the House Committee on FCT on Monday, March 18 to defend his budget.
A breakdown of the FCT budget for 2024 showed that capital expenditure will gulp N726 billion, while N280 billion is for overhead and N140 billion is for personnel costs.
Wike told the Reps committee that he planned to borrow N500 billion from commercial banks to finance capital projects.
Reacting to Wike’s demand, a lawmaker from Niger State, Saidu Abdullahi, raised concerns over the planned borrowing, maintaining that the proposed N500 billion loan would cost more from commercial banks. He advised Wike to explore other options like the capital market.
Speaking on raising the revenue profile of the FCT, the Minister promised to improve the land allocation system through the new certificate of occupancy.
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