From Fred Itua, Abuja
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that there is a garnishee order to the tune of $8OO million (N720 billion) against the FCT Administration.
The minister threatened to take serious actions against very highly placed persons whose actions are producing a negative impact on the FCT administration.
Wike, while drawing attention to the impact of the order on the economy, said the amount is enough to fund the budget of the FCTA over 10 years.
The minister who briefed on Wednesday on the state of the economy of the Administration, lamented that the situation is so bad that the economy could be described as dead.
He said: “We are coming out to tell the people that see what is on the ground, see what we have seen. I was telling the permanent secretary this morning, how can there be a garnishee order of $800m against the FCTA.
“How do you survive it? Who are those responsible for this? That there are no projects in the territory, everything has been abandoned. There is a garnishee order of $800m. Do you know what we are talking about? How do we survive it? Go and see what happened. Garnishee orders here and there.
“The place is just corrupt. The Auditor General will talk to me later. It is terrible. How do we survive it? Then you now said that we have come and that we should do miracles, which miracle? Where will I get the money to go and pay $800m?”
Wike further said that if the public is not informed about what is on the ground, the public will not appreciate it and that Nigerians should know what is going on.
He had: “If you see the rots. These are things you should highlight and tell the world. But we cannot run away, we have to solve the big challenges. That is what we are here for. The president did not bring us here to begin to say you are my brother or sister.
“He brought us here because things are bad, come and help us to see how we can change them. But we will try as much as we can with the little we can do, with the support of everybody. But we cannot finish everything, even if they keep us here for 20 years, we cannot solve everything.”