Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike on Sunday night said debts owed by property owners with regard to Certificates of Occupancy C of O in the territory was over N300 billion before he took steps to get them to pay.
The minister spoke at a media parley held at his official Life Camp residence in Abuja.
Wike also disclosed the territory’s revenue generating status, saying when he came on board late-2023, monthly revenue eqs between N9 to N10 billion, adding that the current monthly average is N25 billion.
He said; “When I came, we were generating about N9 to N10 billion monthly. Today we are not generating less than N25 billion. In fact, last month we were able to generate over N40 billion.
“How do we generate funds without taxes, ground rents? The question residents should ask is whether they are seeing their money working for them. Yes, we are justifying that.
C of O debts
“When we calculated money owed by people, not ground rent, but C of O, it was over N300 billion. If we see N300 billion today, you can go to America and come back in six months and you will see that FCT is a totally different place”, said Wike.
He lamented that people would ask for land from government, get allocations and then refuse to pay appropriate fees to regularize their titles.
