Ground rent: FCTA vows to prosecute defaulters, recover N29bn debt

BY SAM OGBEIFUN

For the land allottees in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who are yet to pay their ground rent over the years, this piece of information is for them.

The FCT Administration says it is set to prosecute defaulting land allottees in a bid to recover debts of N29 billion.

Rising from the FCTA weekly Executive  Committee meeting held in Abuja, the administration said the fund recovery will be enforced through the instrumentality of the court

The General Counsel and Secretary of the Legal Services Secretariat of the FCTA, Mr Mohammed Babangida Umar who disclosed after the meeting said: “The Land Use Act allows us to recover ground rents through the Magistrate Court.

“N29 billion is a lot of money that can be used to build infrastructure and improve services for the teeming residents of the FCT.”

In a statement signed by Anthony Ogunleye, the Press Secretary to the FCT Minster, the General Counsel urged residents who are yet to pay their ground rents to do so or risk the prescribed penalties.

“When this land is given to you, there are terms and conditions attached to the allocation.

“One of them and fundamentally, is for you to pay your rents. If you don’t pay your rents and you owe for years, what else do you expect?

“It is our intention that very soon, debtors and people who are recalcitrant, who have refused to pay their ground rents and other rents due and payable to the FCT Administration will be made to do so by being sued to court and if they don’t pay, may forfeit their titles on such land,” Umar said.