FCTA to Prosecute 413 Property Owners over N29bn Ground Rents Debt

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has finalised plans to prosecute about 413 property owners by the end of the month for defaulting in the payment of N29 billion ground rents.

The Director of Information and Communication FCTA, Mr. Muhammad Hazat Sule, said in a statement yesterday that the legal fireworks may lead to the forfeiture of the affected property to the government in line with relevant laws.

Sule said that the debtors have put the fate of their properties on the balance by failing to pay their outstanding ground rents, in spite of the several entreaties and warnings.

He added that the FCTA was left with no other option than to commence the prosecution of the first batch of defaulting property owners by virtue of the failure of all appeals to them.

“Already, letters serving as last warning to the debtors have been dispatched, and the real court cases will start at the end of August 2022,” Sule said.

Recently, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade, 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 as well as other land related departments.

 It would be recalled that the committee had earlier announced the engagement of five law firms, owned by Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), who were hired to prepare legal documents to commence legal action against the defaulting titleholders.

“The committee intends to take advantage of these highly professional legal firms to recover all the outstanding funds, because the government needs them for infrastructural development. The committee has collated a list of first batch of defaulting debtors consisting of 413 affected property owners that will face prosecution and eventual forfeiture of their property. The only choice left is to clear their debts before the end of the month,” Sule said