By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike has declared the Park n Pay scheme operated in the Capital territory illegal.
Wike made this declaration on Wednesday at a live media parley with newsmen in Abuja to mark his one year in office.
The minister also frowned at the sharing formula, where the consultant takes 80%, and the FCT administration takes 20%.
He said, “the call from a senior advocate, brought to light a scheme that has been siphoning government funds under the guise of a legal operation.’
The scheme , which appears to have been operating under the radar, highlights a critical flaw in the system that allows private consultants to pocket the lion’s share of revenues meant for the government.”
“These are things we need to fight within the system. Sometimes, if you don’t bring it to our attention, we may not know. We can’t be everywhere,” Wike emphasized, underscoring the challenges faced in overseeing the sprawling FCT administration.”
“The incident unfolded when a senior advocate reached out to him with a troubling report. He said, ‘Sir, some people came to our office and are trying to seize our cars. They claim to be from the Transport Secretariat.”
” I asked him to give the person the phone, and I asked the person, ‘Who are you?’ He said, he is from ‘Park and Pay from the Transport Secretariat”.
Wike who was curious to know about the scheme, put a call through to the consultant.
“I wasn’t aware of this, so I called the person in charge of it. I asked, ‘Who collects the money?’ Unknown to us, there are agreements between the secretariat and some people who claim to be consultants, and the operation. So, the consultant takes 80%, and the FCT administration takes 20%,” he explained.
The minister then clarified that the Park n Pay is illegal and does not exist, adding that if his attention wasn’t called to it, he wouldn’t know.
Wike’s personal findings beamed light on the case of corruption and the importance of vigilance in governance, in addition to investigation into similar cases of exploitative activities.
