The Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, has said the planned reintroduction of suspended ‘park and pay’ policy by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, will not be accepted.
AMAC described the move as unjustifiable and aimed at denying the council its legitimate revenue to provide social amenities to the people.
The council, in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Community Development to the Chairman of AMAC, Yunusa Ahmadu, said the law didn’t permit another body to collect or manage motorists’ activities especially on street and motor parks.
Yusuf said, “the situation was disturbing when the FCT Transportation Secretariat made the announcement, recently, saying it is worrisome for the secretariat to be cooking up a kangaroo way to begin ‘park and pay’ which ideally the law does not permit them; they don’t have the power to do that.”
AMAC therefore asked the Federal Capital Territory Administration to hands off the policy planned to take off by the end of first quarter of 2023.
The statement explained that the plan, if allowed to come back, will affect revenue generation in the council.
“We want to warn clearly that we know the Minister as a law-abiding citizen and nobody should cajole him to do the wrong thing”.
Yusuf faulted the former AMAC Chairman, Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido who is now the Mandate Secretary on Transportation to the FCT Minister for the reintroduction of the ‘park and pay policy’ having worked against the programme during time as the chairman.
“We want to tell Candido that we have records of how he never allowed the park and pay to see the light of the day when it was initially introduced by the FCTA.
“We want to say clearly as AMAC, that we reject whatever action that will be introducing park and pay from the FCT Administration, it is not their duty, it is the duty of the local government.
“We have it in our laws, in our by laws, in our acts, whatsoever you want to define it, and it has been both in the court of law, and it is clear that it is our responsibility, so we are shocked that Candido is so inquisitive, because we know clearly that he was once the chairman of AMAC.
“While he was the chairman of AMAC he never allowed the park and pay to operated from the FCT Administration, why is he now so keen? Because he is the Mandate Secretary Transport? We look at it as deliberate act to sabotage the revenue of AMAC, and that we feel is very unfair and unacceptable,” the statement said.
Bauchi Guber: APC candidate, Abubakar unveils manifesto, prioritize insecurity
Laraba MUREY
The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Sadique Abubakar, has unveiled his manifesto ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Abubakar unveiled the 23 page document, titled “Bauchi’s best is here to serve” on Friday in Abuja, at a ceremony which also featured fundraising for his campaign.
He pledged to change the security and socioeconomic status of the state when elected in March.
The document highlights 9 priority areas including good governance, education, agriculture & rural development, Healthcare, the economy & Internally Generated Revenue,IGR, environment & Infrastructure, water and sanitation
youth and women development
Speaking on the sidelines at the event, the former chief of Air staff, lamented on the figure of maternal mortality of about 1549 for every 100,000 births and 29 per cent out of school children in Bauchi State and promised to restructure the political landscape of the State.
He said “These are terrible figures. What we simply want to do is to re-engineer the political landscape of the state so that people will have a sense of ownership. To put that 1.4 million back to school and to show support to our women and also unemployment among our youth is very disturbing.
“We want to empower youths with skills required so the can begin to contribute to the economic development of the State.
“In agriculture, we want to re-engineer the whole process to increase production to boost the economy of Bauchi State because of the relationship between economy and security.
“As soon as you tackle these issues security will be handled and for the physical security, we are going to work together with security agencies once we do that, I can assure you the narrative in Bauchi will change.”
Also speaking, former Minister of Transportation and APC presidential candidate, Rotimi Ameachi, urged Bauchi State indigenes to vote for the man who will use the budget of the state judiciously for the betterment of his people.
Similarly, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said “when you have the support of the person with the possibility of you going to bed with your two eyes closed, what else do you need? vote massively for Sadique Abubakar.”
On her part, the women leader of APC, Betta Edu, pledged to mobilize women in the state to vote for the APC ticket. Also supported the fundraising with the sum of $10000.