The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), which is devoted to collecting all ground rent arrears owed by property owners in Abuja, has started prosecuting defaulting titleholders who have not yet paid their bill.
In response to some of the property owners' failure to pay the required land charges, the government has already brought legal action against them.
Due to the debtors' reluctance to pay the obligation, despite numerous appeals, the government is requesting an injunction compelling them to do so or risk losing the impacted property.
The FCT Administration wants to get the over N29 billion in unpaid ground rents from property owners.
According to a statement yesterday by the Director of Information and Communication, Muhammad Sule, 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.
The FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Adesola Olusade recently inaugurated a debt-recovery committee with the mandate to recover the outstanding debts owed to the FCT Administration.
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.
Also, the Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has removed some make-shift structures on major roads and inside cashew plantations within Apo Resettlement Area in Abuja.
The FCTA city management officials, accompanied by security personnel at the weekend, stormed the place with its bulldozer and dislodged hundreds of artisans, food vendors and petty traders.
The Director of the Department of Development Control, Murktar Usman Galadima said the weekly exercise followed a due process for demolition activity.
To ensure that the shanties don’t return, the Director said: “We will ensure that any person trying to go contrary to our regulations will be prosecuted.