Senate Considers Bill on FCT Satellite Towns Development Commission

The Nigerian Senate has set machinery in motion for the establishment of the Federal Capital Territory Satellite Towns Development Commission by passing for second reading, bill seeking for the Commission’s establishment.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Aliyu Wadada Ahmed ( SDP Nasarawa West), envisions that the proposed commission would help address the growth and infrastructure needs of the FCT Satellite Towns.

Senator Wadada in his lead debate on the bill said that when established, the FCT Satellite Towns Commission shall have the mandate to ameliorate the infrastructure deficits, manage urban sprawl, and promote sustainable development within the satellite towns.

“This bill Seeks for the establishment of a Federal Capital Territory Satellite Towns Development Commission.

“This bill was first read on the Floor of the Senate on Tuesday 22” October 2024. The Aim of this bill is to establish the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Satellite Town Development Commission. It is an initiative aimed at addressing the growth and infrastructure needs of the FCT Satellite Towns.

The FCT is bounded by Nasarawa, Niger, Kaduna and Kogi as Contiguous States. Since its Creation the FCT has continued to see tremendous growth as Nigeria’s Federal capital. This rapid development has, however, come with a set of challenges, particularly to the Satellite towns which are all forced to accommodate the Work force of the Federal Capital Territory.

“The creation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has also Continued to have significant Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Political impacts on the surrounding towns and communities. While Abuja has become a hub for governmental, political, and economic activities, the neighboring towns to the FCT have continued to experience various challenges as they are all de facto extensions of Abuja. They continue to suffer from inadequate infrastructure, limited public services, due to overcrowding and ever-growing population influx.

“While Abuja flourishes as the nation’s political center, neighboring towns continue to face underdevelopment as their Local economies struggle to compete with the wealth generated in Abuja thereby creating a stark economic divide.

“The FCT Satellite Towns Development Commission Bill proposes the establishment of the FCT Satellite Towns development Commission to cater for Satellite towns that are to be determined by a 60 Kilometers distance in to all the contiguous states of the FCT,”he said.

In his contribution, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa ( APC, Niger East) described the bill as very important.

“From the lead debate the intent of this bill is to see how FCT could augment the suffering of the satellite towns including the border towns. Looking at the influx of people within the satellite towns majority of people work in the facility due to this influx a lot of infrastructural facilities are over stretched and most of them made obsolete.

“With the coming of this bill, it is necessary to look at how to augment the haphazard structures that have been established. There is need to look at this bill and give it the necessary attention so that we can correct the anomalies that are there.”

The Senate accordingly after debate on the bill, mandated its committee on FCT , to make legislative inputs into it and report back within two weeks.

Lateefah Ibrahim