FCT Minister Malam Muahammad Bello

Nigeria’s FCT Minister Muhammad Bello on Friday said the Federal Government had paid all outstanding bills to the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the UN office in Abuja and would soon hand it over to owners.

Bello said this at the official signing ceremony of the UN Development Assistance Framework Joint FCT/UN Annual Work Plan for 2016 in Abuja.

According to him, the contractor is back and is working steadily at the site to achieve the set target, as the work is expected to be completed soon.

The minister noted that the remaining components of the building was the security infrastructure and furnishing of the complex, which would be quickly handled.

He added that “early this year, we made some payments to the contractors so as to be able to complete every aspect of the job.

“The remaining aspect that has to do with the security infrastructure in the building, we held discussions and we created a team between the two organisations to identify where the challenges are.

“The team will look at what can be funded as quickly as possible to enable the UN to move in as soon as possible.

“We have made arrangements for funding in this year’s financial estimate so that we will be able to get the needed funds and work toward the deadline that we have all put for ourselves.”

Bello appreciated the support of the UN toward the FCT Administration, as well as other states of the federation.

He promised that the Administration would jointly work with the UN to ensure that the interventions were expeditiously carried out for the common good of humanity.

He assured that the FCT Administration would promptly release its counterpart funding in order to get all the interventions moving as envisaged.

Earlier, the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator, Ms Fatma Samoura, appreciated the growing partnership between FCT and the UN family in Nigeria, which is manifested in many areas.

Samoura noted that under UNDAF II (2009-2013), FCT was one of the pioneer 6+1 states for delivery as One Self-starter approach and that the cooperation yielded fruitful results.

She recalled that under the 2015 Joint FCT/UN UNDAF III Annual Work Plan, an average of 48 per cent of the planned objectives for which USD 5.4 million was budgeted was achieved.

“A total of 100 activities have been programmed for implementation in the year 2016 with an estimated budget of 43.33 million Dollars.

“The UN System will contribute about 41.41 per cent of the funds and the FCTA will contribute
the remaining 58.59 per cent,” she said.

The UN Coordinator conveyed the appreciation of the UN System in Nigeria for the continuous support and hospitality enjoyed from the FCT Administration.