Information reaching us has indicated that a clique, made of those who would not like to see real change in the administration of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are at their usual game, misleading the minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello on the Centenary City project.
This is coming from the backdrop of the recent statements on the project by the minister before the National Assembly. He had last week, accused the promoters of the Centenary City Project of seeking to have a parallel authority in the FCT, declaring the request for revocation of the development agreement between the Centenary City Plc and the FCT Administration as untenable and unrealistic.
A senior staff of the ministry who is very knowledgeable about the project, said at the weekend that the Minister “means well” but that he was wrongly briefed, and deliberately so, by a clique of what he called “the old order” in the establishment.
According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the aim of this group is to scuttle the well-conceived project by confusing the public and leading the FCT Minister into making high profile mis-statements and committing factual errors that would embarrass him out of office.
The source said that either way, any minister who means well is in the line of fire.
The source insisted that there is no such thing as demanding for parallel authority or even the remote possibility of same.
He said that the agreement being touted by the FCTA was lawfully overtaken by two developments, namely; the declaration of Centenary City as a free zone by the President and the simultaneous acquisition of supervisory authority and rights over it to NEPZA.
It was noted that its Regulations were gazetted by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) as the Centenary Economic City Free Zone Guidelines and Regulations, 2015.
The source pointed out that all staff of the ministry know about this, adding: “they also know that the Centenary City land was obtained under the FCTA’s Land Swap Scheme, and that the President declared it a “Free Zone, Centenary Economic City Free Zone,” on the recommendation of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.
The source asked: “how can you speak of them signing an agreement with `a third party’ when they are simply drawing our attention to their new status, which puts them under NEPZA and not FCTA?
“A call for good record keeping should not be given another name by mischief makers in order to drive their personal vested interests. No one can speak of an entity waking up one day and entering into an agreement with NEPZA and we all know that.”
It was gathered that the demand for a formal amendment of the Development Agreement entered into with the FCTA is being made to eliminate a double regulatory regime, which is the sort of things that scared away investors.
Our findings showed that many FCTA officials are surprised that the ministry is unaware that every Economic City in the world, including EKO Atlantic City in Lagos has free zone status.
It was learnt that even the FCTA has its own free zone, the Abuja Technology, which it has not been able to develop.
“Everyone now seems to blame certain individuals in FCTA, including the Coordinator of Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre (AIIC), Mr. Farouk Sani, who is accused of having repeatedly lied under oath to the Senate Committee, especially with regard to the Centenary City Project and spending of N350 million collected from each of 23 land swap investors.”
Sani`s claim that the Centenary City Project was not a land swap arrangement was believed to be the most shocking for concerned staffers and this is still the subject of serious discussion among management staff.
The Ministry is currently unsure of its next steps, even as several government agencies have also since fingered Farouk Sani and the Centenary Committee set up by the new Minister as the source of the imaginary controversy.
Sani used to be the Secretary of the Committee, according to our findings. [myad]
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