FCTA Exposes Maitama Highbrow Property Owners for N29.5bn Ground Rent Debt

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has ascribed the bulk of the N29.5 billion ground rent debts owed it to property owners in upscale Asokoro, Industrial Area II and Maitama Districts.

The FCTA Director, Information and Communication, Muhammed Hazat Sule, made this startling revelation yesterday in a statement.

He said the property owners in the listed highbrow areas accounted for 10.67 per cent, 9.43 per cent and 9.29 per cent respectively of the total sum due to the FCTA Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding Ground Rents amounting to N29,506,643,943.98.

He said the committee was already contemplating legal documentations to take up all property owners, who had failed to pay, despite repeated threat of court, for prosecution, revocation, or outright forfeiture.

The FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade, recently inaugurated a debt recovery committee with the mandate to recover the outstanding debts owed the FCTA with particular interest in ground rents and other sundry fees in the Land Administration Department as well as other stakeholder’s departments.

Property owners in other districts such as Central Business Districts, Industrial Area I and Extension, as well as Wuse I and II owed the FCTA to the tune of 8.21 per cent, 5.18 per cent, 5.1per cent, and 4.81 per cent respectively.

Titleholders in Garki I and II, Katampe, and Jabi Districts were in default of 3.4 per cent, 3 per cent, 2.21 per cent, and 2.15 per cent respectively.

Property owners in other districts like Kukwaba, Gwarinpa I, Gudu, Kado, Karmo, Katampe Extension, Utako, Mabushi, Durumi, Daki-Biyu, Guzape, Jahi, Dutse Wuye, and Institutions and Research were said to owe various degrees of percentages.

The committee said it would carry out its assignment as mandated by the FCTA, urging all titleholders to honour their obligation to clear the debts required to fast-track the infrastructural development of the FCT.