By Stanley Onyekwere
In a bid to recover all Ground Rent debts owed it by property owners in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has commenced prosecution of the defaulting titleholders, for failing to pay their debt.
To this end, the government has filed court cases against some of the property owners over their failure to pay the prescribed land chargers.
A statement from Director, Information & Communication, FCT / Chairman, Media & Publicity Sub-Committee, Muhammad Hazat Sule, said the government is seeking for an order to force debtors to clear their debts or forfeit the affected property, since they are recalcitrant in paying the debt, despite several appeals.
It revealed that, “The FCT Administration has taken this step to drive home the point that it is desirous of recovering the over N29 billion Ground Rents owed it by property owners.
“The government last month, announced its preparedness to prosecute about 413 defaulting property owners by end of the August 2022, being the first set.
“Accordingly, the legal fireworks, has commenced and may lead to the forfeiture of the affected property to the government in line with relevant laws”.
It adds: “some of the debtors have failed to pay their outstanding Ground Rents, in spite of several appeals and warnings, thereby, jeopardising government’s effort at providing critical services to the residents.
“The government insisted that since all entreaties have failed, it has no other option than to commence the prosecution of the first batch of the defaulting property owners.
It would be 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 as well as other Land related departments.
According to the statement, the Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding Ground Rent and Other Related Charges in the FCT, is headed by the FCT General Counsel/Secretary Legal Secretariat, Mohammed Babangida Umar.
The Committee earlier announced the engagement of five law firms, owned by Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), hired to prepare legal documents to commence legal action against the defaulting titleholders.
