The FCT Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding Ground Rents, is speaking tough against property owners who fail to pay up all their outstanding ground rents, as they committee says such property owners risk prosecution, revocation, or outright forfeiture of their properties.
Recall that the FCT Administration recently set up a debt recovery committee to recover the N29, 506,643,943.98 owed it by property owners despite several appeals and notices served them.
The coordinating committee inaugurated by the FCT permanent secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade, was given a 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.
Accordingly, the committee is expected to formally start communicating to the affected persons and corporate bodies as from Friday, July 1, 2022, after which those who failed to comply by paying their outstanding debt would be prosecuted.
A statement from by the Director, Information and Communication of the FCTA, Muhammad Sule, explained that the administration is forced to adopt these measures due to the non-compliant by the affected individuals and corporate organizations.
“Government, therefore, wish that the affected debtors will come forward and clear their outstanding debts to avoid prosecution, revocation, and forfeiture of their property.
“The recovery committee has already swung into action and perfected modalities towards achieving this onerous task, because the government needs resources to execute essential infrastructural projects in the Federal Capital Territory.
Sule, who also doubles as the head of the media and publicity sub-committee of the debt recovery team, said assured that no stone will be left unturned in recovering the huge revenues.
According to him, “The committee which has since been meeting to fine tune strategies for the task ahead, also warned debtors of dire consequences should they allow the committee to fully execute its mandate, if they refused to pay the outstanding land fees.
“The committee wishes to assure that it will rigorously carry out its mandate to the latter, because ‘no stone will be left unturned’, in carrying out the assignment.”
