Metro
Bello Renews Calls for Social Funding for FCT

By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello has renewed call for special funding arrangements for the territory from the Federation Account.
Bello, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said the demand was part of his submissions at the Public Hearing organised the Revenue Mobilization and Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to review the revenue allocation to the FCT.
He said inadequate funding was one of the factors responsible for why Abuja’s development seemed to be moving at a very slow pace despite repeated budgetary allocations.
The FCT Minister painted the picture of a nation’s capital with so much to offer but whose development potential had been hampered by funding challenges.
Bello said that Abuja from the way it was currently being funded with just one per cent allocation from the Federal Government implied that it was merely a Federal Government’s project.
This, according to him, is contrary to the dreams of its founding fathers who designed the nation’s capital as a project for the entire federation.
Bello described Abuja as a work in progress with so much to offer the country, but whose development could be derailed if nothing was done to address the current funding challenges.
He challenged the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission to as part of its national duty, create a special funding mechanism that was not against the Constitution, to ensure that the work was actually in progress.
“Our formal presentation to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission is to emphasise the fact that for us to really achieve the goals why Abuja was established, then we have to work out a very special funding mechanism for Abuja.
“It is very important. The reality is, there is so much that need to be done to be able to really finalise the Abuja Master Plan and the concept and that cannot be done based on the present system of funding where, Abuja is thought as a small component of the Federal Government of Nigeria budgeting.
“Abuja should not be looked at as just Federal Government. It should be looked as a project for the whole of Nigeria because that is the reality.
“Funding for the FCT has not always been this bad. It would be recalled that the FCT was once funded directly from the Federation Account until the brinksmanship by the State Governors some years back which culminated in a Supreme Court decision that truncated this arrangement.
“As a result, the FCT’s one per cent direct allocation from the Federation Account was replaced with just one per cent allocation from the Federal Governments revenue.”
The minister gave a breakdown of some of the ongoing projects in the FCT being starved of funds and might continue to be so if nothing was done to address the situation.
According to him, the FCT today has about 137 ongoing projects which could have been completed as at July 2021, but for the challenges of funding.
He explained that the FCT only received about N37 billion from the Federal Government in 2021, amounting to 25 per cent of its N300 billion budgetary provision for the year, leaving the city to rely on IGR and other ways and means to source for funds.
He further disclosed that the FCT required about N800 billion as at July 2021 to complete about 137 ongoing projects, adding that the FCT already had completed projects worth 82 billion that had not been paid for due to lack funds. (NAN)
Metro
FG to Set up Livestock Breeding Centers in Six Geopolitical Zones

The Federal Government on Wednesday disclosed a plan to set up a livestock breeding center in each of the six geopolitical zones to enhance productivity and sustainability.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, disclosed this in Kaduna at a two-day interactive session on Government-Citizens Engagement, organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.
The event is themed, “Assessing Electoral Promises: Fostering Government-Citizens Engagement for National Unity”
Speaking at a plenary on Agriculture and Food Security, Abdullahi said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is intentional about investing in Nigeria’s livestock sector.
He reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to fostering synergy among key sectors to achieve the broad objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Abdullahi said his ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to redesign curriculum for young farmers to adopt modernisation and boost the sector.
According to him, the initiative aims to equip the next generation with modern agricultural skills, technology-driven knowledge, and innovative farming practices to strengthen national food security.
Abdullahi said the synergy among the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, Water Resources, Livestock Development, and the Marine and Blue Economy are imperative for delivering on the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Metro
FCTA Reads Riot Acts to Health Management Organizations

By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Tuesday said appropriate sanctions will be meted out to FCT Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS) Health Maintenance Organisation (HMOs), failing to promptly remit payments to Healthcare providers.
The FHIS is a social Health Insurance Programme, offering financial protection through access to quality, affordable and equitable healthcare to all FCT residents.
Free enrolment is open to staff of the FCTA and Area Councils as well as vulnerable persons, including pregnant women, while other members of the public can enroll upon payment of N22,500 as premium per annum.
In a bid to improve the quality of healthcare services provided to the FHIS enrollees, about N4 billion, being outstanding/backlog payments for capitation and fee for service for years 2022 to 2024, was approved by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and paid between last year and this year.
This was contained in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka said the Benefit Package of the FHIS includes the Basic Minimum Package of Health Care services (BMPHS) ranging from promotive, preventive, curative and some rehabilitative care services.
The services include primary preventive care, screening, primary emergency services, and secondary level care such as dental, mental, eye, ear, nose and throat care, physiotherapy, surgeries, laboratory investigations, radiological investigations such as ultrasound scan, x-rays.
However, complaints have been received from some Healthcare providers concerning non-remittance of their payments by some HMOs, under the excuse that bank details of the hospitals were not available, an excuse not acceptable to the government.
Therefore, compliance of the HMOs to the prompt remittance of payments to Healthcare providers, as well as commitment of the Healthcare providers to the discharge of their duties to the FHIS enrollees will be monitored with a view to sanctioning defaulters appropriately.
On implementation of the FHIS in the last one year, there have been payment of all outstanding capitations and fee for service backdated to year 2022 by the end of 2024, improved timeliness in the payment of capitation to HMOs, review and increment of the capitation to Healthcare providers for improved service delivery to enrollees, free enrolment of vulnerable persons especially pregnant women and under-five, poor and indigents, who have started enjoying healthcare services, and accreditation visits to 100 Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities to expand the number of PHC facilities in FCT and improve access to healthcare services in the communities.
Also, all pregnant women who enrolled through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) Primary Health Care (PHC) Centres across the six Area Councils in the FCT will continue to enjoy free health education, medical consultation and treatment, routine antenatal drugs, laboratory investigations and delivery.
Referral for secondary care including caesarean section, blood transfusion, and treatment of other obstetric complications such as eclampsia, at all the 14 General Hospitals in the FCT is also provided at no cost to the patient through the BHCPF.
Metro
NAF Airstrikes Decimate ISWAP Leadership Cell in Southern Tumbuns

The Air Component of Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK) has neutralized several high-value Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) commanders and fighters in a decisive air interdiction in the Lake Chad region.
Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, the Director, Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force (NAF), made this known in a statement in Abuja on Monday.
Ejodame stated that the mission, carried out on Sunday, targeted Arina Woje, a notorious ISWAP enclave in the Southern Tumbuns of Borno, known as a sanctuary for insurgent leaders.
He said the strike followed a series of credible Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sorties that confirmed the return of terrorist elements to the area after recent inter-factional clashes.
According to him, ISR data revealed significant terrorist activities, including the movement of foot soldiers, reactivation of structures and the concealment of possible command centres and logistics depots beneath dense foliage.
He added that “acting on credible intelligence, NAF air assets were dispatched to undertake focused strike mission. Aircrew on arrival, acquired and prosecuted pre-selected targets using precision-guided munitions, achieving devastating effects.
“Preliminary battle damage assessment reveals the destruction of several structures housing key ISWAP leaders, fighters, and logistics storage facilities, effectively disrupting the group’s operational planning and resupply efforts in the region.”
The NAF spokesman said the operation reflected NAF’s continued resolve to dislodge terrorist elements, deny them freedom of movement, and support ground forces in restoring peace and stability across Nigeria.
He added that the operations also reinforced the value of intelligence-driven air power missions in modern counter-terrorism operations.