Abuja Land Owners Owing FCTA Would Be Penalized – Wike

The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has vowed to collect ground rent from defaulting owners of landed properties in Abuja.

The minister stated this on Tuesday while receiving visitors from the ad hoc committee investigating the failure of the Abuja mass transportation scheme.

The former Rivers Governor disclosed that the outstanding ground rent is about N34 billion.

Ground rent is a tax charged by the FCTA on landed properties in the nation’s capital.

Wike said those who failed to pay their ground rent would have their titles revoked.

According to him, “I have calculated the debt of non-payment of ground rent, which is about N34 billion. I am going to collect all of those back. I don’t care all I want is for the rent to be paid.

“They will be given the grace of two weeks to pay. Whoever doesn’t pay, I’ll revoke it and give it to whoever will pay so that the necessary services will be rendered.

“People want to live in a beautiful city but don’t want to pay their dues which is impossible.”

The minister said the names of those who are supposed to pay their ground rent will be published on Thursday.

He said the FCTA needs to ramp up its internally generated revenue (IGR) to finance the completion of abandoned projects and initiate new ones.

Wike said he would overhaul the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company (AUMTCO) which has failed to address the transportation deficit in the FCT.

He appealed to the lawmakers to ensure that FCT gets an improved budgetary allocation in the next appropriation.