By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello and Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello have resolved to nip in the bud, the lingering border disputes between communities in Niger State and the Federal Capital Territory.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa-Bello

The Minister and the governor gave the indication during a joint address to Journalists at the end of their their closed door meeting in Abuja.

Muhammad Musa Bello who noted that Abuja is a creation of law and that the issues about its boundary are clearly stated in the laws of the land and therefore cannot be shrouded in confusion, however advised that the easiest way out of the situation was to reactivate various institutional frameworks set up to deal with such matters.

According to him, such a committee should be headed by very senior officials, such as the Secretary to the Niger State Government or the FCT Permanent Secretary while comprising all relevant officers of both administrations, adding that the Committee should liaise with relevant Federal Government agencies like the National Boundary Commission with a view to working out a permanent solution to the issues.

The FCT Minister expressed readiness to remit all Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes due Suleja from workers who reside in Suleja but work in Abuja, just as he said that the FCT was always prepared to act in tandem with the provisions of the laws, adding that Abuja had been approached earlier by the Chairman of Tafa LG on the matter and that he had directed that FCTA should harmonise all claims and to do what was needful.

Malam Bello called on the local council officials of the border communities to rise up to the challenge of combating the menace of filth in the Zuba-Madalla axis, as well as the encroachment of traders on the Madalla end of the Abuja –Kaduna Highway.

The Minister lamented how the road has become so congested that it is now a serious obstruction to traffic and posing a severe risk to life and property, even as he immediately directed the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), TPl Umar Shuaibu to set machinery in motion to reclaim the road and the adjoining shoulders.

According to him, the problem of filth in the border area was not a funding problem but that of political will by the Chairmen of the affected local councils on both sides.

Earlier, the Governor of Nigeria State, Abubakar Sani Bello said he was in Abuja in the quest for a peaceful resolution of the lingering border dispute between the two territories in Dakwa and Tafa Local Governments of Niger State as well as Gwagwalada and Bwari Area Councils of FCT.

He noted that all the four council areas have continued to lay claims to the various disputed land and that there was need to deal with the matter in an amicable way.

He directed that all developments on the disputed areas as well as allocations by both local councils in the affected communities be suspended pending the resolution of which local councils own the various parcels of land.

Governor Bello also noted that there was the issue of waste management especially in Zuba – Madalla stretch and the issue of PAYE tax remittances due Suleja Local Government from officers working in Abuja but who reside in Suleja.

He said that the Chairman of Tafa Local Government would need the support of the FCT Administration in dealing with environmental sanitation and waste management in the area as facilities in Suleja are over stretched as a result of FCT workers.