Babatunji Wusu –
Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has established a task group tasked with revoking errant landowners’ Certificates of Occupancy (C of O).
The minister stated during the task force’s inauguration on Tuesday in Abuja that it has a one-month deadline to complete its work and solve particular challenges outlined.
Wike indicated that the task force’s major goal is to ensure that every house in the FCT’s Mass Housing Estates has a certificate of occupancy, which will be obtained through payments made by allottees.
The task force, according to the minister, is also in charge of implementing sanctions on allottees who violate land use restrictions, such as the conversion of residential buildings into commercial areas within the FCT.
“The purpose of establishing the task force is to ensure that all of the Mass Housing, each of the houses owns a C of O, and they have to pay for it,” he explained.
“And then there must be penalties for those who have violated land use, those who were given approval for residential and converted it to commercial—those who were given for commercial and contravened by building residential.”
“And the only way people will be deterred from doing this is to make sure that we discourage them, and discouraging them means that if you want to do it, you have a penalty to pay, and that penalty must be severe.”
Wike also directed the task Force to establish measures for land allottees in Area Councils who do not have certificates of occupancy for their plots in order for them to obtain the land papers.
Concerned about cases when developers sell off mass housing land allocations, the minister urged the task force to be diligent in its operations, adding that he will personally oversee its efforts.
He also revealed that Zenith Bank Plc has been tasked with providing the cash required for the task force’s operations, and that any funds received by the task force will be placed with the bank.
Wike issued a strong warning to defaulters, stating that once the Committee begins its work, he will not consider any plea, emphasizing that the FCT, as a non-oil state, relies on internally produced money to carry out development initiatives.
“I’m not interested in who didn’t comply,” he remarked. I don’t want somebody to write to me and say, “Please, the Task Force arrived, help me.” That is not something I intend to accomplish. Even if I give you a minute, don’t act on it. Pressure can come from anyone. So, if you notice my minute saying, please treat it, because Nigerians like to exert pressure.”
The task group is chaired by Michael O. Chinda, Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Lands, Urban and Regional Planning, and is backed by FCDA’s Executive Secretary as its Secretary.
The Task Force also includes the directors of the departments of Land, AGIS, Development Control, Mass Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, and Surveying and Mapping.
