The Senate yesterday Wednesday June 5th dropped the
controversial African First Ladies’ Peace Mission House project when it
passed the N259.65bn budget of the Federal Capital Territory for the
2013 fiscal year without approving the N4bn appropriated for it.
In February when the budget proposal was
brought to the National Assembly, it contained N4bn vote for the
construction of the mission house in Abuja, a development that attracted
a lot of criticisms from members of the public.
The Senate, during the second reading of
the bill, questioned the rationale of committing scarce resources to
prosecute a less important structure.
Civil rights groups and political
parties had also berated the Federal Capital Territory Administration
for budgeting N4bn for the construction of the building for a
non-governmental body headed by the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan.
They had contended that since the
Federal Government had earlier declared the mission as a
non-governmental organisation, it would be inappropriate for the same
government to spend public funds on it.
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