…Urges Residents To Pay Their Taxes, Ground Rent
…Threatens To Revoke Land Titles Of Ground Rent Defaulters
1. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has expressed satisfaction with the quality of work on ongoing projects within Abuja city and reassured that they would be completed by May this year.
2. The Minister made this known during his routine inspection of ongoing infrastructure projects in the Federal Capital City on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
3. Project sites visited by the Minister included the official residence of the Vice President and the Rehabilitation and Expansion of the Outer Southern Expressway from Villa Round About to Ring Road I, and the B6, B12 road projects.
4. The Minister noted that road projects form part of the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and assured that FCT residents will get the best.
5. According to the Minister, “I’m very much impressed with their quality, and for me, the people deserve the best and that’s why we take our time to come and see actually what is going on, and that way they will also know that we are also serious, not just telling us that things are moving on very well.
6. Barr. Wike who noted that there had been a little setback due to the recent construction workers warning strike, however assured that the road projects would be ready by May this year judging by the pace of work and the advantage of the weather.
7. According to the Minister, “ We are quite optimistic that with the speed of work and taking advantage of the weather, we believe that by May, these projects will be ready. Of course, you know they didn’t work for three days because of the construction workers’ three-day warning strike. That alone took a lot of things out of them. But we believe they will not have a repeat of that incident again”.
8. On the effects of inflation on the cost of ongoing road projects in the FCT, Barr. Wike disclosed that the FCT Administration as a policy tries to pay the contractors as at when due to discourage the possibility of variation of contracts.
9. “We don’t allow variation because we always try to pay as at when due, so the issue of variation does not come in. I know every contractor would want to have their money as quickly as possible. So, there is this trust in us that we are going to pay and we have been paying. Whatever funds we have gotten, we try to pay them without wasting time and that’s why we are succeeding”, he explained
10. The Minister however used the opportunity to call on FCT residents to pay their taxes and ground rents, saying that the government relies heavily on tax revenue to finance infrastructure projects.
11. He said residents needed to understand that without the payment of taxes, the government would not have the funds to carry out critical infrastructure projects and urged them to pay their taxes, especially now when they can see how the money is being expended.
12. Barr. Wike also warned that those who continue to default in the payment of their ground rents in the FCT risk having their land titles revoked.
13. He said, “Again, they want roads, they want a good environment, they want light everywhere. The government does not print money. The government is to tax people and then use that money to improve the area. So, I will always plead with everybody that they should try as much as possible to pay their ground rent”.
14. .“We will always plead with everybody that they should try as much as possible to pay their ground rent. We have published the last set, for those who are still owning the one of 2023, we gave them till the 14th of December last year. But we are human we believe that things may not be as good as people expect. So, we have extended it for another two weeks, after which we have no choice but to revoke the title document, if you don’t pay.
13/02/2024
