ABUJA–AN anti-corruption group under the aegis of Citizen Awareness Against Corruption and Social Vises, CAACASVI,has asked the Federal Capital Territory administration to appoint the substantive Director of Treasury, lamenting that the office has been vacant for six months.
This was as the group regretted that the some flagrant disobedience to court orders on land revocation and demolition issues by the Federal Capital Territory Authorities has resulted in garnishing of FCTA’s accounts, resulting in loss of several millions of naira,a development it said had ruined the smoth running of the FCT.
Addressing the media , Monday,in Abuja,the Executive Director of CAACASVI,Comrade Olumuyiwa Onlede,likened the delay in the appointment of the Director of Treasury to maladministration.
Onlede,who had earlier petition President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into some faulty lines in the administration of the FCT,recalled to that,”The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had its foundation laid on the promise of good governance to be propelled by accountability and transparency in government.”
“It is on this note that we write to bring to your notice about maladministration and show of incompetence and loss of control in FCTA that has resulted in abysmal performance and loss of revenue and fund,”it said.
“The most serious among this issue of maladministration is the office of the Director of treasury of FCTA that has been vacant for the past six months for no justifiable reasons,
“This is gross violation of principle of corporate good governance in FCTA as the Permanent Secretary is simultaneously performing the function of Director of treasury thereby making approvals and payments at the same time which means the Permanent Secretary approbate and reprobate at the same time,”it said.
The group added:”Also, we had several cases when development control that is in charge of demolition of illegal structures go ahead to demolish structures even when there is substantive court orders (not vacated) restraining development control from carrying out such demolitions
“This has resulted to cost being awarded against FCDA by the court in a way that the account of FCDA is garnished to serve as deterrent and this adversely affects the running of FCDA in term of fund.
“Alteration of reporting line has also resulted into duplication of duty within the system, treated files in FCDA are sent back to FCTA Treasury department for a fresh processing before contractors are paid, this also result to waste of time, energy, manpower, materials and relative unease between contractors and FCDA.”
“Since the beginning of this administration in 2015 there has been no substantive Executive Secretary to pilot the affairs of the five Secretariats of FCTA, the management of the departments have being in acting capacity since then and that has affected the policy implementation of FCTA due to the fact that those in acting capacity are not permitted by law to take some critical decisions or act on them.
“Same goes to most of the parastatals under FCDA, they are also performing below expectation due to the fact that they lack power and even the confidence to carry out major and important decision which ordinarily would have benefited the agencies.
“Due to rigorous and unnecessary bureaucracy imposed on the system,court orders are not acted upon quickly and in some cases ignored, leading to judgement against FCTA and its parastatals.”
