N29bn Ground Rent Debt: Asokoro & Maitama property owners, highest debtors
By Chimezie Godfrey
As the work of the Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding Ground Rents of N29,506,643,943.98 owed the FCT Administration gathers momentum, revelation emerged that property owners in the highbrow areas of Asokoro, Industrial Area II and Maitama Districts are the highest debtors owing 10.67, 9.43 and 9.29 percent out of the total sum owed.
Director, Information & Communication, FCT/Chairman, Media & Publicity Sub-Committee, Muhammad Hazat Sule made this known in a
statement on Thursday in Abuja.
“The Committee is already fine-tuning legal documentations to take all property owners, who have failed to pay, despite repeated warnings to court for prosecution, revocation, or outright forfeiture.
“The Committee in the process of doing its work has discovered that bulk of the debtors are titleholders in Asokoro, Industrial Area II and Maitama Districts, considered to be highbrow areas in the nation’s capital city, Abuja.
“Accordingly, property owners in Asokoro District alone constitutes 10.67 percent of the Ground Rents defaulters, while the titleholders in Industrial Area II and Maitama Districts comprise 9.43 percent and 9.29 percent respectively,” Sule stated.
He recalled that the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade recently inaugurated a debt recovery committee with the mandate to recover the outstanding debts owed the FCT Administration with particular interest in ground rents and other sundry fees in the Land Administration Department as well as other stakeholder’s departments.
He stated that property owners in other Districts such as, Central Business Districts, Industrial Area I & Extension, as well as Wuse I & II are owing the Administration to the tune of 8.21 percent, 5.18 percent, 5.1 percent, and 4.81 percent respectively.
According to him, titleholders in Garki I & II, Katampe and Jabi Districts are in default of 3.4 percent, 3 percent, 2.21 percent, and 2.15 percent respectively.
Property owners in other districts like Kukwaba, Gwarinpa I, Gudu, Kado, Karmo, Katampe Extention, Utako, Mabushi, Durumi, Daki-Biyu, Guzape, Jahi, Dutse Wuye and Institutions & Research are owing various degrees of percentages.
“Thus, the Committee is committed to carrying out its assignment as mandated by the FCT Administration whilst all titleholders must honor their obligation to clear the debts.
“It is more honorable and responsible for property owners to rush to clear their outstanding debts because it is not going to be business as usual as the government needs these funds to fast-track the infrastructural development of the Federal Capital Territory,” he stated
Meanwhile, the committee has since dissolved into sub committees of Publicity, Administration, Legal and Finance respectively for effective and diligent execution of its mandate.
