The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC)

  • AMAC insists it has right to collect tenement rates

    The Abuja Municipal Area Council ( AMAC ) yesterday insisted that it had the legal backing to collect tenement rates from property owners in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in an April 12 judgement had said AMAC had no powers under the constitution to make Bye-Laws for the collection of tenement rates and therefore declared the council’s Bye-laws null and void

    But AMAC Executive Chairman, Abdullahi Candido, while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Monday, insisted that the council was exercising its rights legally.

    He cited previous judgements which backed the council’s decision to collect rates from property owners in the FCT.

    Mr. Candido said: “We are legally exercising our statutory function of collection of tenement rates within our jurisdiction in order to provide basic infrastructure to the people.

    “It would be recall that in august, 2017, the National Assembly lifted the suspension earlier placed on tenement rate collection and conveyed a formal approval to FCT Area Councils for the collection of tenement rates within the Federal Capital Territory.

    “In the past, there have been plethora of judicial pronouncement giving interpretation on the legality of the collection of tenement rates by the Abuja Municipal Area Council.

    “The judgements have all been in favour of the council, expressly recognizing and validating the legality and power of AMAC specifically as the tier of government/body empowered constitutionally and statutory to collect tenement rates within the area under the coverage of the council in Abuja.

    “Most profoundly was the Court of Appeal judgement between Afdin Ventures Ltd and two others vs Chairman Abuja Municipal Area Council (delivered on Monday 12th May 2014) in favour of Abuja Municipal Area Council.

    “We hereby state categorically, that we are a council that is law abiding and would at all times respect constituted and judicial authority in their order. The Court of Appeal is higher in hierarchy to the High Court and other lower courts in Nigeria, and until the Supreme Court of Nigeria sets aside or varies the judgement of the Court of Appeal in the above case, that decision remains the authority as far as collection of tenement rates within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is concerned.

    “We are appealing to the general public especially property owners within the council to continue in the exercise of their civic responsibility of paying promptly their tenement rates to the council’s authority and also disregard any misleading court ruling as respected and civilized citizens of Nigeria.

    “We urge everyone to keep faith with the present administration of the Abuja Municipal Area Council as we are resolute in our commitment to developing the council with revenues being collected.”

  • Over 250,000 PVCs uncollected in FCT – INEC

    Over 250,000 PVCs uncollected in FCT – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Wednesday said over 250, 000 Permanent Voter Cards ( PVCs ) were yet to be collected by registered voters in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT ).

    Mrs Ndidi Okafor, Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Gender and Civil Society Liaison, INEC, FCT, made this known in Abuja that the rate of PVC collection in the area was low.

    Okafor said that the uncollected PVCs were from the 2011, 2014, and 2016 voter registration by the commission in the territory.

    She said, “we are appealing to Nigerians to please come and collect their PVCs; it is not just enough to come and register, you have to complete the process by collecting your card.

    “We are doing a lot of partnerships with different organizations to create awareness on this; we go to churches and mosques to do advocacy and we even visit traditional rulers to help us talk to their subjects.

    “However, the commission cannot do this alone; political parties have a strategic role to play, so we urge them to talk to their supporters to send down these messages to the grassroots.’’

    Okafor appealed to Nigerians not to be discouraged by the long queue they met at voter registration centres, assuring that INEC was working out how to make the exercise hitch-free.

    She urged Nigerians to be more patient with the process “because it is their right to register and vote’’.

    “We need to be supportive of this process so that we can all register.

    “The wisdom here is that no matter how long these queues are, they get cleared up early because not everyone there is for registration.

    “Some people are just there to transfer their voter cards, while others are for corrections. So, ideally nobody is supposed to spend up to five minutes on the queue,’’ she explained.

    Okafor said that the registration centres in the FCT had been increased from 22 to 32 and urged people to go and register.

    She said that on April 27, 2017 when the exercise started, FCT had only six registration centres, but that due to stakeholders demanded, 16 new centres were added.

    She added that 10 more centres were recently created, bringing the number to 32 for the six area councils in the territory.

    Okafor said that INEC was also taking steps to increase the number of registration machines in the centres, especially in Abuja Municipal Area Council ( AMAC ), which had nine centres.

    She said that 10 machines and the scanners had also been deployed at the centres.

    NAN

  • Over 200 marriages resolved, families reunited in 2016 – AMAC

    No fewer than 200 marriages in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) which were on the edge of collapse were resolved and families re-united in 2016.

    Mrs Ramatu Abdulrahman, the Head of Social Welfare in AMAC, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

    She said the reconciliation of the broken marriages was a great success on the part of AMAC because “when families are united, the nation is united”.

    “We have reconciled over 200 people who are supposed to be separated by now; we are able to settle and unite them.

    “For those who are pregnant out of wedlock, we were able to intervene and settle them even if they will not marry themselves; we ensured that the man brings some allowance to carter for the woman’s needs.

    “Another area we recorded success was on the issue of abandoned children.

    “When they bring those children to us, we take them to FDSC since we have not been authorised to keep them or adopt them, but we give them first hand care immediately they bring them,” she said.

    Abdulrahman said they repatriated one child to Niger State and reunited her with her family.

    On the vulnerable ones, she said they got support from Dangote Group of Companies and Smile Project, an NGO, while items they donated were distributed to the vulnerable ones and care givers.

    Abdulrahman listed some of the challenges facing the welfare department to include lack of finance, lack of operational vehicles as well as lack of good environment to welcome clients and have proper discussions.

    “We lack financial backing to help us operate well in AMAC; social welfare is supposed to have an operational vehicle so that whenever we are called, we can respond, but we don’t have all these.

    “We also need a place we can do our work without distractions,” she said.

     

  • Return of ‘park and pay’ policy in FCT, residents react

    Some FCT residents have expressed divergent views over the proposed re-introduction of ‘park and pay’ by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

    Some of the residents in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja expressed their support while others were against the policy.

    NAN reports that this policy has been in place until it was abolished in 2014, following an FCT High Court ruling describing the policy as illegal.

    However, AMAC had concluded arrangement to re-introduce the banned park and pay policy to augment the shortfall in federal allocation to the council and boost its revenue generation.

    The policy allow residents to park their cars at some designated place and pay a sum depending on the numbers of minutes or hours spent.

    Dr Rowland Adebisi, a Civil Engineer, said the re-introduction of the park and pay policy within the city centre was a welcome development that would generate more revenue for the council.

    He said that the administration should reintroduce the policy, adding that it should be done with some sense of decorum.

    Adebisi said that the funds generated from the policy would go a long way to help in the development of the city.

    “The idea of reintroducing the park and pay is a welcome development, this will also serve as a means of generating revenue for the council to provide more infrastructure, if properly managed’’ he said.

    Mrs. Justina Umeadi, a civil Servant, said that the re-introduction of the policy would assist in reducing traffic congestion in the city.

    She said that with the policy in place it would help to check the indiscriminate parking in the city centre by some car users.

    “Am in support of the reintroduction of this policy; it will help to check the way and manner some people park their vehicles indiscriminately,’’ she said.

    Another resident, Mrs. Stella Adams, said that she was not in support of the policy, saying that it was another form of double taxation.

    “I am not in support of that policy; FCT should look at other means of generating revenue.

    “The government is supposed to provide car parks at strategic places in the city for people to park their cars; you do not expect them to carry their cars on their head.

    “If car parks are provided and people still park their cars in wrong places then you can charge them for illegal parking,’’ she said.

    Also, Mr. Peter Adoyi, a resident, told NAN that the policy was illegal and should not be reintroduced, saying that Nigerians do not need that policy now.

    He said that people are already suffering as a result of the recession in the country and should not be made to suffer more.

    “The government should initiate programmes that will improve the living standard of citizens and not policy that will add to the hardship of citizens,” he said.

     

  • AMAC presents N6bn Budget

    AMAC presents N6bn Budget

    Hon. Abdullahi Candido, Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) has presented more than N6 billion for its 2017 fiscal year before the lawmakers.

    Candido, while presenting the budget tagged: “Budget of Consolidation’’ on Tuesday in Abuja said he would ensure that the people of AMAC would not regret voting for him when the budget implementation commenced.

    He said that the budget would build on the solid foundation the administration had laid for accelerated grassroots development.

    “This budget is a product of painstaking efforts of relevant stakeholders who have the progress of the masses and council at heart.

    “As an all-inclusive document, I can assure you that it reflects the wishes of the people,” he said.

    Candido said that the budget was put together and presented by both the councillors, drawn from the 12 electoral wards and the executive arms at the just concluded budget retreat.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the proposed budget expenditure has its recurrent amount at N2. 9billion, which is 48.23 percent, while the capital expenditure of N3 billion is 51.77 percent.

    Candido said that the council had stabilised the monthly payment of salaries, adding that it evolved a pragmatic approach to self-financing by instituting the internally generated revenue reform.

    According to him, this includes accelerated revenue drive, monitoring and blocking of leakages as well as ensuring transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

    The chairman said that the budget would make a positive impact in 2017, adding that it adopted a zero-based budgeting system to eliminate inefficiency and focus on activities that have a direct bearing on the people.

    Earlier, the Spear of the council, Rt. Hon. Daniel Michael said that the members would work assiduously to ensure early passage and look at the budget dispassionately

    According to him, this budget should have a positive impact and deliver on the dividends of democracy for the people of AMAC.