ICIR
MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has reduced the cost of obtaining a certificate of occupancy in the nation’s capital to N3.5 million.
This was contained in a statement released by the director of press, office of the FCT minister Anthony Ogunleye on Friday, November 24.
Wike had earlier pegged the cost of obtaining the document at N5 million, based on the recommendations of a task force set up to recover land use contravention fees in the FCT.
The minister’s decision did not go down well with many of the city’s residents, who believed the new fee would stifle their desire to own land in the city.
The ICIR reports that some stakeholders met with the minister and pleaded that he slash the fee, given the prevailing unfavourable economic situation the nation faces.
In the statement released on his behalf on Friday by Ogunleye, Wike said payment of the N3.5 million would not apply for recertification, but would be applicable only for new issuances.
The minister also disclosed that payment of ground rent would be enforced and threatened land owners who do not comply with the revocation of titles.
“Over the years, nobody has been able to enforce the payment of ground rent. I came on board, and I said, okay, it can’t be business as usual. You have property; you are given a C of O to back up your property. In that C of O, you are told to be paying annual ground rent. For the past 15 years, you didn’t pay. Some people, for the past 20 years, have never paid.
“And you know Nigerians, they said nothing will happen. I came and said something would happen, and they had to pay. Seeing that we mean what we have said, if you don’t pay, we will revoke, and we have been doing that. People are now queuing up to pay. Go to AGIS, people are queuing up, and that has now increased our IGR,” he said…
