The House of Representatives committee on Federal Capital Territory has approved the establishment of a college of agriculture for the nation’s capital.
The committee, which conducted a public hearing on four bills and two motions targeted at the administration of the FCT, is also expected to approve the creation of the Abuja University of Science and Technology.
Other bills include the Bill for an Act seeking to establish FCT Wider Area Planning and Development Commission, and FCT Security Trust Fund.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Herman Hembe, explained that facilities for the yet-to-be established Abuja University of Science and Technology were ready for its take-off, adding that the House would ensure speedy passage of the bill.
“The FCT is still young, and the process of law making is rrelatively slow. So, you can understand why it is taking so much time. This time around, we are trying to work towards getting the concurrence of the Senate so that we can transmit to the Presidency,” he said.
Deputy Chairman of the House committee on Media and Publicity Affairs, Hon. Jonathan Gwefi, who initiated the Bill on Wider Communities, explained that implementing measures inclined to developing the wider areas that serve as separate residential communities within commuting distance of Abuja Municipal Council was essential. Gbwefi, who represents Karu/ Keffi/Kokona Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State, noted that four states, including Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger and Kaduna, have border communities with the FCT.
He explained that these suburbs have recorded high population densities in terms of accommodating majority of the people working in the FCT, who could not afford to live within the nation’s capital.
The bill, according to him, was aimed at establishing a commission that would be saddled with the responsibility of bringing development to the wider areas through the provision of basic infrastructure and social amenities that would bring about a certain level of urbanisation.
“It is, therefore, intended through this bill to put in place necessary mechanism in form of a commission that would facilitate the execution of community development policies and projects, by identifying and determining those deliberate and conscious infrastructural projects required for the development of the outer communities and improve their general standard of living,” he said.
