N4.2 Billion Trailer Ghost Project Hunts Abaji Fmr Chairman

The last has not been yet heard over corruption series that rocked the Southern entry point to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT during the tenure of immediate past chairman of Abaji, Hon. Yahaya Muhammad.
Muhammad who is currently aspiring under the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP to contest for the house of representative seat could not account for 4.2 Billion Naira trailer project along the Abaji/Lokoja expressway.

The abandoned park

During the launch of the project in 2010 at the Abuja International Conference Centre, the former chairman told prospective investors of his commitment to work hand in hand with them to achieve the milestone project to decongest the Council of trailers and articulated vehicles.
At presentation, he said the project was to tackle indiscriminate parking of heavy duty vehicles on the highways, describing the project as one of the best things to have come to the area council and assured that at its completion it will provide trailers and articulated vehicles with appropriate parking areas.
Meanwhile, the residents of the Abaji council have complained bitterly over the long awaited promise made by the former chairman saying that he only paid lip-service to the project which could have had a meaningful impact to the people and motorists in that area.
Speaking to the Hunters weekly, one of the residents Mr Tanko Umaru explained that both indigenes and residents of the community cannot identify any project that was completed by the past administration.
“When he was busy telling Nigerians that he was embarking on a billion naira trailer park project we laughed at him, because we know that he wanted to use that avenue to defraud investors and the council because he wants to contest for house of representatives.
“He siphoned over N600 million from the council purse in the name of that project and up till now we can see anything on that site, and the predecessor that he brought into power as the chairman could not continue with the project because he is still paying debt that Muhammad left in the council. Muhammad used the money realised from the investors to form a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO called Abaji Rural Area Development Association (ARADA),” Umaru alleged.
A revelation by the Senate Committee on FCT on the councils during the tenure of the former chairman of Abaji, confirmed that there was a can of worms. The then committee threatened to drag the council to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
We gathered that the Senate discovered that the councils voted 80 per cent of their budgets for overhead costs and 15 per cent for capital projects while virtually nothing was gotten as Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
The Senate was told that the Abaji Area Council generates the sum of N2,000 annually from 40 market stalls, which were renovated with the sum of N70 million.
The rot was further punctuated by revelations from the Abaji Area Council, whose Internally Generated Revenue continued to nose-dive. It was reported that the council generated only N27,455 in January 2010; N499,410 in February and N79,430 in March 2010. From the motor parks, it generated the sum of N2,900 in January; N50,410 in February and N11,000 in March 2010.
Also, the then chairman of Abaji Area Council was alleged to have spent the sum of N125 million on 40 hectares of land earmarked for the construction of a trailer park which belongs to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA.
A member of the FCT Committee, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, was alarmed by it, when he told the chairman, “This is enough to carry you to the EFCC.”
Another member of the committee, Senator Sidi Ali,  who was the  senator representing the FCT, questioned the allocation of N38 million for provision of desks and chairs in some schools in the councils, since the same projects were undertaken by the office of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs and Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.
The senators also condemned the allocation of N729.72 million as overhead cost, N92 million for sanitation and N11million for ante-natals; N4 million on Nigeria at 50 celebration; N11 million on community development and N2 million on furnishing of a Youth Centre  as contained in the councils' 2011 budget.
Hunters weekly also gathered recently that the house committee on FCT during their visit to the council unearthed massive corrupt practices still going on raging from contract inflation to double contract awards.
It would also be recalled that the Abuja Inquirer in its area councils' corruption series outlined how Muhammed's exotic taste cost council millions of naira, published on Monday, November 18, 2013.
The Abuja Inquirer alleged that the council spent a princely sum of N117.6 million for the upkeep of the chairman's office in the past 10 months with N42 million for refreshment; amongst others.
However, our findings also revealed that Muhammad gets monthly allocation from the council's treasury through contribution to unspecified local to the tune of N1.2million and has thus far taken N14.9 million while the chairman's office gulps N8.5 million for renovation.
A breakdown of the money spent on refreshments in the council is as follows; the Chairman's office gulp N7.8 million, secretary's office N2 million, traditional rulers spent N1.5 million while the legislative arm gulped N14 million.
We also gathered that other departments that benefited from the refreshments largesse include the audit department spending N400,000.00; administrative department N6.2 million; Finance and Account made away with N9 million; Health and Human Resources spent N850, 000.00 while Environmental and Sanitation department spent N160,000.00.
Other areas funds were allegedly being siphoned from the council include the control of communicable, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases at the cost of N96.6 million, general services of the council was put at N75.8 million, sanitation and refuse control cost the council N30 million; clearing and compacting of 40hectres of land for commercial center, trailer park and mega station equally cost the council the staggering sum of N125 million.
It was also gathered that when the House Committee on Area Councils and Ancillary Matters visited the trailer park and mega station as part of its constitutional oversight functions of Abaji Area Council, there was nothing to show for the money spent so far on the project.
During the tour of area councils by the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, FCT chapter recently, the present council chairman absconded claiming to attend an emergency meeting with the FCT minister of state.
Meanwhile, when The Hunters Weekly called the Special Assistant on Media to Muhammad, he told our correspondent to go and ask the incumbent chairman of the council because his boss handed over to him.
When our correspondent insisted on hearing from his boss, he said he has nothing to say except we go to the current chairman. Also several efforts to get the chairman or the information officer to respond to the allegations were unsuccessful.