METRO Bwari Chairman seeks legislative approval for N10.6B 2023 budget

By Stanley Onyekwere

The Chairman of Bwari Area Council of the FCT, John Gabaya has sought the swift consideration and approval of the Council’s Legislative Arm, for a budget of N10,684,556,784 for the 2023 fiscal year.

The proposed 2023 appropriation, tagged ‘a budget of Inclusive Growth and Development for vast majority of Bwari people, which has a projected gross statutory revenue of N13,424,560,984, with a total projected net revenue of N10,684,556,784, and statutory deductions of N4,773,569,200 for Primary School Teachers, Pensions and Trainings was laid before the Speaker of the Legislative Council, Hon. Ahmed Yerima Douglas.

This, represents a marginal increase of N1,083,548,200 over last year’s budget in 2022, the Council’s gross statutory revenue was N12,341,012,784 with total net revenue receipts of N8,258,512,784 and total deductions of N4,310,000,000.

Also, of the total net revenue receipts, N8,650,991,784 is expected from Statutory Allocations, while N2,033,500,000 is projected from internally generated revenue and accruals from FCT Internal Revenue disbursements.

Gabaya, while presenting the proposed budget at the Council Chambers, sais it is projected with an estimated expenditure profile of N1,799,756,784 for personnel cost, while N2,103,800,000 is for overhead cost just as N6,780,935,000 is earmarked for capital expenditures.

He added that the budget seeks to provide “gainful jobs, increased incomes and greater wealth for all households in Bwari Area Council”.

He therefore called on all stakeholders and residents of the Council to cooperate and participate in the implementation process to ensure the actualization of the Council’s set objectives to improve production and productivity.

The Chairman said to improve efficiency, transparency in the internally revenue generation system of the Council, there are advanced plans to electronically collect revenues, thereby blocking leakages and strengthening its revenue profile.

Furthermore, after sectoral appraisal of the previous budget, Gabaya explained that due to paucity of funds, the 2022 budget focused mainly on revamping the rural and township infrastructure and provisions of basic social services.

In his remarks, after receiving the copy of the budget, the Speaker Bwari Legislative Council, Hon. Ahmed Yerima Douglas commended the Chairman’s commitment towards transforming the Council. While stressing the need to facilitate the continued rapid development of the Council, the Speaker assured the that the Council Legislators would diligently consider and pass the budget into law.

AMAC: Hoteliers risk ‘seal up’ over non-payment of tax

Owners of hotels within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) are enjoined to pay all necessary taxes or have their property sealed up.

This was contained in a recent statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to AMAC Chairman, Kingsley Madaki, and issued to the newsmen.

It states that the Council has strictly followed due process by serving them 14-day Demand Notice, and failure to abide by which it would not hesitate to embark on outright closure of all defaulting business premises.

According to the statement, with the expiration of the 14-day Demand Notice, the AMAC Taskforce was directed to commence verification and enforcement in earnest.

Council executes strategy for competitiveness in raw materials, products dev’t

The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has commenced the execution of a national strategy for competitiveness in raw materials and products development it recently initiated.

The Director General (DG) of RMRDC, Professor Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, disclosed this in a recent document on why the industrial sector needs competitiveness to participate in the global value chains.

The overall objective of the policy brief, according to the document, is to provide the framework to strengthen the competitiveness of Nigeria and enhance its integration into the regional and global value chains.

Doko explained that the programme, which had since been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), provided the implementation guidelines with 11 strategic foci which were mostly used in the construction of the resultbased management logical framework of the strategy.

He noted that the focal areas were regarded as strategic elements on which all the specific projects for 21 raw materials and products classification schemes from the 97 broad categories of the Harmonised System Commodity Codes (HS Codes) were based.

He said, “The successful implementation of the strategy would significantly impact on import reduction potentials towards Nigeria’s competitiveness in raw materials and products development.

“The design of the implementation framework is built on the principles of fact-based considerations, international best practices, verifiable indicators and coefficients of various two-way frequency matrices.

“It is, therefore, a plan with great potential to guarantee success for growing Nigeria’s economy in the desired direction.”

According to him, the implementation plan’s institutional framework has “the Presidency” at the helm for directing the policy thrust and decision-making.

Over 17 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are major stakeholders with specific mandates to play key roles in the implementation of the strategy and provision of support services.

‘’The Council has taken the responsibility to conduct the scoping study and provide a policy brief for a renewed approach to implement a value chain development strategy that can prioritize sectors with high potential for sustainable value chain development in Nigeria.

‘’The overall objective of the policy brief is to provide the framework to strengthen the competitiveness of Nigeria and enhance its integration into the regional and global value chains,’’ he said.

According to the DG, to consolidate these gains and tackle the remaining challenges, there is need to articulate a national policy on value chain development, deepen reforms to further improve the business and regulatory environment, focus on areas of comparative and competitive advantages, promote public and private R&D investment, and champion intraECOWAS cross border trade.