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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, Nyesom Wike on Tuesday praised President Bola Tinubu’s approach to governance, describing it as “business-like” and crediting it with unlocking funds for infrastructure development across the territory.
“Somebody who knows about governance, somebody who sees governance as part of business, that we must succeed, said this is your impediment, this is your problem, I will move this problem, go and work and that’s why we are working today,” Wike said.
The minister spoke during the commissioning of the N2 Transit Way from the Central Business District to Wuse, which includes two bridges.
Wike said Tinubu’s decision to exempt the FCT Administration from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) had enabled the territory to access commercial bank loans using internally generated revenue as collateral.
“If Mr. President didn’t see governance as business, he wouldn’t have done what he did by removing us from the single treasury account. Mr President knew that we could not perform if we slow break under the TSA and that’s why when he came on the board, he said listen, I don’t want to hear complaints, I don’t want to hear excuses. I’m removing you from the TSA so that you’ll be able to access funds from other commercial banks to be able to carry out your project,” Wike said.
“Having gone out from the TSA, we can approach commercial banks for loans, and they use our IGR as a collateral and that’s what is happening,” he said.
Wike described the infrastructure drive as a “revolution” initiated by the president.
“The revolution was initiated by Mr. President and I commend him for that. After all, we have had so many governments that have come and gone. Why is it that we are still crying that everything in the FCT is being stolen, everything, nothing is moving?” he asked.
The minister said previous administrations had failed to deliver results due to financial constraints imposed by the TSA.
“It’s good to work with people who mean well for this country. It is good to relate with people who think about the future of this country,” Wike said.
