In its bid to develop satellite towns in the Federal Capital Territory, the Senate yesterday considered a Bill on the floor during plenary seeking to establish the Satellite Town Development Agency.
The Bill which scaled the second reading was sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi, PDP, Kogi.
Adeyemi who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, in his lead debate noted that FCT covers an area of 8,000 square kilometer.
He said that demographic studies put the Abuja’s urban population at 2,245,000 in 2012, making it the fourth largest urban area in the country.
According to the lawmaker, no city can function independently without its regional areas.
Adeyemi said that the Justice Akiola Aguda panel noted that “this vast area of Abuja was considered necessary in order to allow room not just for the capital but also for the city region that will provide most of the needs of the city.”
He said that the associated benefits of development projects embarked by government is reflective in the socio-economic well-being of the people resident in rural areas, adding that the majority of rural dwellers in the FCT are “marginalized”.
The Chairman of the committee on FCT further said “it must be known that it is never going to be possible for all the people working in the FCT to reside within, as multitudes are repelled to the surrounding satellite towns.”
According to Adeyemi, the responsibility of the Satellite Town Development Agency included the opening up/development of satellite towns by providing infrastructural facilities to the teeming rural dwellers, thereby improving their living standards, among others.
He listed Bwari, Kubwa, Karshi, Kuje, Kusaki Yanga, Dobi, Anagada, Gosa, Abuja North West and Abuja South West as designated satellite towns, for which the sum of N25.965 billion was provided to the agency in the 2013 FCT budget.
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