The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has vowed to ruthlessly deal with fraudulent developers in the nation’s capital city of Abuja.
The Minister stated this at a two-day workshop organised by the Federal House of Representative Investigate Ad-hoc Committee on Mass Housing /Real Estate Development in the FCT held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, “I personally will ensure that we work together under the leadership of the AD-HOC Committee with strong enforcement of the law and regulations as was earlier indicated by the chairman of the AD-HOC Committee.
“Inspite of the few challenges, I maintain that the public private pertnership still remain the only option available to us in meeting houses challenges that is why as we look in to the future, we have commend the land for infrastrue in one of our district that is the Gwagwa district and subsequently, others will also come up with very strict regulations that protects the Estate investors , protect the government, and protect the on takers as well as those financing the projects along the entire value change , taking time to go through the various strategies of the housing development of the FCTA, within the last few years, the theme of this workshop is very apt and that of course in the journey so far, the pit falls have been discovered, I am personally convinced that getting the right synergy in the out come of this report we will get it right in just a few time and of course, hard work.
“The out come will further strengthen and help us in our quest in the development of FCT and make it more responsive to the needs of the people that is why all the relevant heads of Department and agencies that are with in the housing constipation agencies are all here.
“A fast growing city of Abuja, and it’s ever increasing human population there will always be a need to meet the shelter needs of all the categories of people who have chosen to recede here, over the years, various changes, strategies were involved to meet the right basic accomodation needs of the residents of the FCT , starting of course with the government on first set of accomodation of civil servants in Garki Area One, and a part in Gwagwalad and Suleja . These were eventually sold off to civil servants occupants and that is the sale of government houses , thus giving many Nigerians the opportunity to own their own house in the nation’s capital city.
“The FCT Administration subsequently introduce the mass housing scheme to be driven by the private sector. it became apparent that government alone can could not possibly meet the housing needs of the citizenry, while this scheme enabled decent accommodations, it also came with its own challenges, some of which are mentioned by the Honorable Chairman of the AD-HOC Committee in her speech a short while ago”, he added.
Earlier, the Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate the Operations of Real Estate Developers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon Blessing Onyeche Onuh, stated that FCT has been losing an estimated N600 Billion annually in revenues accruable to it from the real estate sector.
According to her; “The workshop is to discuss the economy of the real estate industry, saying, “We shall clearly articulate the value chain in this multi-trillion naira industry and identify why the FCT has not been getting its fair share.
“This committee’s preliminary findings indicated that the FCT has been losing an estimated N600 Billion annually in revenues accruable to it from the real estate sector.
“Take for example a house or land is sold for N500,000,000.00 (five hundred million naira), the lawyer gets his legal fee, the agent gets his brokerage fee, the bank gets its transaction charges and the government gets nothing if the transaction is not presented for registration.
“And this kind of transactions go on in volumes every day unregulated, leaving government with the perennial struggles of meeting up its responsibility of providing modern amenities for its people. Many of these transactions are done in cash making the industry a safe haven for money laundry and illicit financial flows. The time to change the narratives is now,” she buttressed.
Onuh further stated that “Minister Sir, you are entrusted with enormous powers by the constitution to enforce the provisions of the law establishing the federal capital territory for the common good of all Nigerians living or visiting the FCT.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker, House of Representative, Hon Idris Wasa, said the house will continue to make laws to stop all unethical practices in the real estate and other sectors.
He added that, real estate is second to oil industry in revenue generation, unfortunately, players in the real estate has continued to defraud both government and off-takers.
Wasa promise to recover every Kobo supposed to be paid into the government coffer.