TheCable

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), has vowed to collect ground rent from defaulting owners of landed properties in Abuja. 

Speaking on Tuesday when members of the house of representatives ad hoc committee investigating the failure of the Abuja mass transportation scheme visited him in his office, Wike said 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.

“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,” Wike said.

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

“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,” he said.

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

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

The minister 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.

Afam Ogene, chairman of the ad hoc committee, said the visit was to generate solutions to the epileptic mass transportation in the FCT.

Ogene asked Wike to revamp and re-organise the Abuja transportation system, adding that he has the support of the lawmakers.