ABUJA, Nigeria – Minister Nyesom Wike warned land allottees to either clear their debts or lose their properties.
Speaking to the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on the Investigation of Failure of Mass Transportation in Nigeria, on Tuesday, September 6, 2023, Wike declared that the outstanding ground rents have reached an alarming N34 billion.
“I have calculated the debt of non-payment of ground rent, which is about N34 billion and I am going to collect all of those back,” Wike said emphatically. “People want to live in a beautiful city but don’t want to pay their dues, which is impossible.”
The Minister revealed a two-week grace period for the debtors, after which properties will be revoked and reallocated.
The announcement is part of a broader effort by Wike to overhaul public services and infrastructures in the capital city, particularly its ailing transportation system.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee, Afam Ogene, expressed concern over the inefficiency of Abuja’s mass transit system. “What is on ground if you go into the facility is a myriad of abandoned and broken-down buses,” Ogene said. “It doesn’t speak well of our transportation system.”
Wike attributed Abuja’s lackluster public transport to poor budgeting and management.
“Our budgeting system is too poor. Lagos is a state while the FCT is ‘like a state.’ Budgetary provisions for FCT are inadequate,” he explained.
He also highlighted the N2 billion approved for transportation palliatives by President Bola Tinubu but questioned, “where are we?”
Furthermore, Wike unveiled plans to tie new projects to Internally Generated Revenues, IGR, ensuring that contractors would be paid yearly and projects would not be abandoned.
“The truth of the matter is that I am going to overhaul the entire [Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company] system,” he pledged.
The Minister was particularly irked by what he termed the “poorly negotiated Wasa affordable housing contract.” He stated, “All those things, I am gonna cancel them.”
He assured FCT residents of a strategy to tackle the menace of ‘one chance’—a colloquial term for violent armed robbery and kidnapping in the territory. “With a functional transportation system in place, one chance operators will disappear,” he said.
Afam Oghene pledged the committee’s support for the Minister’s efforts. “We are here to encourage you to also look into transportation. We will support you to do it and it will also solve problems of ‘one chance’ in the city,” he said.
The clock is now ticking for property owners in Abuja to either meet their financial obligations or risk losing their holdings.
At the same time, all eyes are on Minister Wike as he attempts to steer the FCT through a myriad of challenges, with hopes that his tough love approach will catalyze much-needed reforms.
